Once you’ve picked the perfect Christmas tree, you’ll want it to stay nice and fresh until after the festive season. But a freshly cut tree can quickly turn dry and brittle. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to avoid your holiday season turning into a mess of brown needles. Here’s how to take proper care of your tree.
It sounds almost too simple, but part of proper Christmas tree maintenance is choosing a healthy-looking tree to begin with. Pick a tree that has lots of green needles left that don’t fall off easily. You can test this by gently shaking the tree or raising it slightly and letting it drop to the ground.
Once you’ve brought your tree home and put it in the perfect spot, take off the netting and place it in the pot. If you’re not going to set up your tree right away, you can put it into a pale with a little bit of water so it has all it needs for a while. But make sure to cut the trunk again before you move it to its stand or plant pot. It’s also a good idea to shake the tree outside if you’ve been storing it for a few days before moving it to its final location. Choose a location away from radiators or heat sources to avoid it from drying out too quickly.
A dehydrated tree isn’t a festive look. So, it’s a good idea to water your tree regularly. But it can be hard to work out exactly how much water your tree needs. A freshly cut tree consumes around one gallon of water per day. So how much water should you add? In general, it’s advisable to use a quarter of water for every inch of the trunk’s diameter. You should water your tree every day. Adding sugar or other additives is sometimes recommended, but experts agree that Christmas tree watering with sugar doesn’t really outperform plain water. So skip the sugar!
If your tree is cut, don’t wait too long to take it down. Otherwise, you’ll probably have to clean up many more pine needles covering your floor. You can take your tree to a local recycling facility or find a drop-off point. Some places offer collections for trees after the festive period. The trees are then chopped up and composted. If you’ve got the space, you can turn it into mulch yourself. If your tree is grown in a pot, you can plant it in your garden or donate it.