Tough year for Christmas Trees
We are down a foot of rain for this time of year--not a couple of inches: 12 of them. Wildfires are breaking out all over the country. They have become common here in PA--and in New Jersey, which likely never saw one before. And right now there's an active wildfire in Upper Manhattan. Manhattan?!
A local Christmas tree farmer has to explain that he is refusing to sell any trees until December. "I know that some people like to have a decorated tree in the house for Thanksgiving, but that tree would drop its needles long before Christmas."
Another tree farmer explained that the farm had already lost all of their young trees, despite constant (and costly) irrigation. He explained that the large, established trees have survived, so no actual shortage right now. But in eight to ten years, it will be slim pickings.
Now I'm going to explain how you can safely have a fresh tree in the house THIS year.
If you already have a cut tree in the house and decorated, make sure it's not near a heat source and water it REALLY often; even trees that weren't cut during a drought can need up to two gallons of water a day. If you don't already have a no-kneel watering gadget (I'll explain later) GET ONE! And keep it filled. Low indoor humidity is already common at this time of year, and drought only makes it worse, so running a humidifier pointed at the tree would be an excellent idea. As could turning the heat down in that room overnight.
People with trees in the house already need to check the branches daily. If you feel lush greenness, things are good; but if the branches are already dry you might need to start over. Sorry.
Now for the good news. This is a big weekend for tree shopping, and with the knowledge you'll now obtain, you can insure having a fresh, safe tree by following my patented Christmas tree advice.
If the tree is already pre-cut, be cautious. Be obsessive about branch feel, and don't be afraid to ask where the tree is from and when it was cut. I doubt that this is common, but it's a huge bonus if the base of the tree is already sitting in water.
Your best bet is a 'cut your own' tree farm, where ideally, you actually can cut it yourself or watch someone do it. Then...
No matter what, have a large container of water and a bow saw at the ready.
Again, no matter how you obtained the tree, use the bow saw (borrow one if you have to) to make a fresh cut at the base of the tree. If the tree was just cut fresh, take off two inches and immediately plunge it into the deepest water you can manage. This will only take a day so, so use a bathtub if you must.
If the tree was already cut, take off two inches and take a good look at the base. If it's 'sappy', get it in water right away. If the base looks dead after the cut, take off more until you get to sappy. NOTE: Never chip away at the bark down low for any reason; that's the part that carries water up into the tree.
(That's a lesson I personally learned when I bought too big a tree and 'had' to shave off enough bark for it to fit in the tree stand. Within a week, I had a Nightmare Before Christmas tree that Jack would have loved. So don't do it, okay?)
Back to your cut tree: stand it up straight and into water right after the trunk cutting is done. Note: I give this advice every year, no matter what the weather has been like and people always tell me how shocked they are by the amount of water the tree sucks up. And this year, you're likely to be dealing with a tree that's down four or five gallons to start. So keep an eye on that water tub and be ready to add more if the water level is going down quickly.
After a day or two, the tree should be good and saturated; it will even feel heavier.
Then comes the tree stand. Face it, you are not going to be crawling down there several times a day to water, so start out with one of the many tree watering devices that are available. Some are long tubes that allow you to water from the top; others are disguised as Christmas presents that sit next to the tree and feed water to the base via a tube.
I found several examples of the 'fake gift box' style on Amazon. Scroll through the 'tree watering devices" choices and look for one that holds 3.9 or four gallons of water. (One of which was selling for just twenty bucks, but didn't have any reviews yet.) Just be sure to keep that pretend present filled!
