Many of us are at the point of the season where our Christmas trees start to dry out. I would like to keep mine beyond New Year’s, though at this point, any new ideas would be better tried out on next Chridtmas’ tree. Has anyone had any success or tips for how to keep a Christmas tree green and vibrant into the middle of January?
For background, I cut my Fraser Fir Christmas tree down on the weekend after Thanksgiving. I gave it a fresh cut at the bottom right before putting it in the Christmas tree stand with water and have kept the stand from getting too low on water ever since. The tree is not next to any heat source. My trees never have a massive needle drop before I take them down in the middle of January, but they definitely show signs of drying and do drop some needles.
I’ve heard of tree water supplements at home improvement stores and saw a video online of a guy who drilled four holes around the trunk of the tree below the water line but above the cut to help the tree drink more water.
As a Christmas tree grower and a life long user of real trees you arent going to prolong its life much more than what you have already. Basically if you want to keep it longer you are going to have to cut it later than the weekend after Thanksgiving. You are correct a fresh cut immediately prior to placing it in the stand and making sure it always has sufficient water while in the stand to keep the cut submerged is the big keys. Also keep it away from any heat sources in your house, wood stove, floor vent for the furnace, etc… Frasers due tend to have some of the better needle retention amongst Christmas tree varieties. I cant see how the drilling of the holes will make any difference and there has been studies showing that the water supplements dont do much if anything in prolonging the life of the tree in the stand. If you have a humidifier that could help some as air in homes tends to be pretty dry this time of year.
I used to work at Home Depot and worked a Christmas there. It is good it has lasted well this long. When I worked at Home Depot a week or two before Christmas their wreaths and trees would all be browning big time. The life of a plant is inside the roots and once the roots disappear or start to die so does the tree. Heck even the Poinsettia I bought from Costco in the 2019 Christmas lasted until March or April and that was a healthy plant at first.
Picture of our tree taken today, showing several inches of growth. We put the tree up a few days before Thanksgiving. We cut it on our land, so no down time there, and my wife always waters it with boiling water, which seems to keep it hydrated well. It has dropped almost no needles. We’ll probably take it down in late February.
