Keep a cut Christmas tree green:
You found the perfect Christmas tree and brought it home, all netted on top of your car. The kids can hardly wait to put it up. You inhale deeply, as you enjoy the aroma of a fresh-cut tree. It must be almost Christmas.
Last year that beautiful tree you cut and brought home just didn’t seem to last. You watered it (most of the time – well – when you remembered)! This year you’ll do better. However, there is more to keeping a cut tree green throughout the whole Christmas season than just watering it.
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Choosing A Tree
We all want the perfect tree, having the ideal tree starts with choosing a healthy tree. A tree farm where you can cut the tree is the best way to guarantee your tree is fresh. If the farm only sells cut trees, choose a tree that isn’t losing its needles. Detect excessive needle loss by vigorously shaking the tree or dropping the tree onto the end of the trunk from about a foot high. It is usual for some brown needles or dead twigs to shake out.
Have the tree farm shake the tree with a mechanical shaker. This gets rid of the dead needles and twigs, as well as any bugs. Thereby cutting down on a mess in your living room as well as unwanted visitors.
Bringing The Tree Home:
If you live more than 20 minutes from where the tree was purchased, the tree should be netted or wrapped with something to keep the needles from blowing off on the ride home. Most tree farms will net the tree for you. Place the tree on top of your vehicle with the trunk facing forward. This helps protect the needles from being blow off during the drive home.
Setting Up The Tree:
Congratulations, you found the perfect tree, made sure it was healthy, netted it, and brought it home on top of your vehicle. Now what?
Time to put it on display in your living room. For this, you will need a Christmas tree stand and a saw. Cut 1 inch off the bottom of the tree and secure it in the tree stand. I have struggled with a variety of tree stands over the year. All of them were an exercise in patience and frustration tolerance until I discovered the Krinner Tree Genie. (click here)
OMG, this tree stand is impressive. No more screwing the 4 bolts into the tree trunk, and wrestling with the tree to make sure it is straight and secure. The Tree Genie has a cable system with a foot pedal. Put the tree in the stand and press the foot pedal. The cables tighten around the tree trunk, tightly securing it in place. Setup takes about 10 seconds. Fill the extra-large reservoir (2.5 gallons) with water and DONE. The Tree Genie is a bit pricey but well built and in my opinion, worth every penny. I’ve had mine for over 10 years now.
Recipe for Feeding Your Christmas Tree:
Make sure your beautiful Christmas tree stays healthy by giving it plenty of food and water. Yes, food! Christmas trees love carbs. – Sugar. The tree will drink a quart of water a day.
Here is the recipe:
To a 2 liter bottle (recycle a soda bottle) add:
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp bleach
The vinegar acidifies the water, helping the tree “drink” the water faster. The bleach stops bacterial growth that will clog the water pathways within the trunk.
Don’t Let The Tree Run Out Of Water:
It is essential to make sure the water level in the tree stand doesn’t drop below the bottom of the tree trunk. If the tree is out of the water, it will seal the trunk with sap. This only takes a few hours. Once the trunk is sealed with sap, adding more water won’t break the seal, and your tree will rapidly lose its needles.
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