Fresh-cut Christmas trees are grown on farms. Farmers have been preparing your tree for a long time. A six- to eight-foot evergreen tree takes six to 12 years to grow. This year’s tree has survived about a decade’s worth of record cold, heat, droughts, and floods.
Over 1 million acres of Christmas tree farms will supply 90 percent of the 30 to 40 million trees harvested this year. Because some trees won’t survive, over 100 million trees will be planted next spring to replace them. Each acre of Christmas trees provides the daily oxygen requirements of 18 people. They also provide wildlife habitats and protection from soil erosion.
In the United States, each region originally used the evergreens that were native to that area, keeping shipping costs low. Now, the trees are shipped all over and people in the warm southern states can choose from trees grown in West Virginia, Michigan, and Oregon.
After the holidays, the tree can be recycled in several environmentally beneficial ways. Some towns collect the trees so that they can be chipped and used as mulch. You can cut off the branches and use them as mulch to cover areas of the garden. Some forest preserve districts sink them into lakes so that they can provide shelter for small fish. They can be left in a corner of the yard to provide shelter to birds on cold winter days.
Do not burn the tree in the fireplace, because the sap can help catch the chimney on fire. Speaking of burning, Christmas trees are not fire hazards by themselves. Just like any other plant or piece of furniture, they don’t just burst into flames on their own. It’s faulty wiring or some other source of heat or spark that’s the real fire hazard. Don’t keep a cut tree in the house too long or let it dry out. Evergreen trees are filled with resins and oils that do burn rapidly, so if they do catch fire, they'll burn hot and fast.
Fresh trees have flexible and fragrant needles. The sooner you choose a precut tree, the sooner you can get it into water and the longer it will last. Even if you just store it outside in a bucket, it will be better than sitting on the lot with no water.
Selecting a good Christmas tree requires several steps. Before you leave home, measure the location where the tree is going so you know how tall (including the star or angel topper) and how wide the tree can be. The location should not be near any heating ducts that can’t be closed or duct taped shut. A sunny window may be too warm and dry out a tree too quickly.
The open pores at the bottom of the trunk will become clogged with resin and dirt. Have the tree seller cut off the bottom inch of trunk, or when the tree is home, you can cut off the bottom inch or two of the trunk so that water can be taken in. Make the cut on a diagonal, not flat across the bottom, so that the cut will not be blocked when it is on the bottom of the tree stand. Do not make the cut at too steep of an angle or else it will not stay under water. Water keeps the tree fresh, which prevents needle drop and increases resistance to fire. Check the water level several times a day for the first few days, because a fresh tree can use several gallons of water during that time.
