Real Christmas Trees Bring a Delight to Your Home & to Nature

            Real Christmas trees provide a wonderful and festive aroma to your entire household. Think of all the great things your real Christmas tree provided while it was growing. It was probably a great habitat for some birds, maybe a rabbit or two. It cleaned the air for multiple years. Your tree did a lot of great things for the world, and even when you are done with it, it’ll continue to provide benefits. A recycled Christmas tree can be used to make mulch that could help prevent weeds from growing around new trees. And the best part is, your Christmas tree will be replaced with up to three more trees next spring.

A real tree is fresh when the needles are green and flexible and don’t come off readily when you pull the branches through your fingers or bounce the tree on the ground.  An early visit to a local “retail lot” or “choose and cut” tree farm will ensure the freshest and fullest tree possible. 

To keep it fresh, store your tree in a cool garage or shaded place after purchase until you are ready to bring it indoors.  Keeping the tree in an unheated, but well-protected, space like a garage will also acclimate the tree to the warmer indoor temperature and help retain needles.  Keep your tree away from major sources of heat (fireplaces, heaters, heat vents, direct sunlight).  Cut at least a half inch off the bottom trunk base before putting it in water, and keep the tree stand container full of water until you discard the tree.  Real trees also provide something that artificial trees can’t…a holiday fragrance and feeling. 

For more information on real Christmas trees, contact:  Joshua Wolk, North Dakota Forest Service, at (701) 549-2414 or email at joshua.wolk@ndsu.edu.