How do you keep your christmas tree alive

[whirlsy]

For all you real tree lovers out there I was just wondering what tips you have for keeping your tree alive through the holiday season.

 

[EROS]

We spray the plastic branches with water ......

 

[Antonia]

We were laughing about this at work - as you can not really keep the tree "alive". It is already essentially dead - amputated from its roots. Alas, there is no hope for keeping it alive.

We are a bunch of recovery room nurses so we do have a wierd sense of humor.

However, at our house we make a fresh cut to the trunk just prior to putting it in the stand and keep it watered every day. Also we try to not stand it near a heat source such as a heat vent or fire place because that would tend to dry it out.

 

[robinb]

I was listening to a show on the radio the other day and the "expert" said:

(1) Make a fresh cut right before you bring it in the house.
(2) If your tree is frozen, bring it into the garage or screened in porch to warm up a day before cutting it.
(3) Provide your tree lots of water, especially in the first couple of days. It will rehydrate itself right away and "drink" a lot. After that, it will slow down but still need water.
(4) Home remedies like 7-Up, Asprin, etc do not work.

OK, now you've had 2 of the resident atheists answer your question . I don't have a tree, how about your Eros?

 

[EROS]

ROBIN, we have a BIG tree, decorated to the ceiling. My DW is a devout Catholic......... we also have a manger with a dark-skinned Jesus (from Mexico), and we attend Midnight Mass on Xmas eve . Hey, perhaps some holiness will percolate through and save me from an eternity in hell .....

 

[Big Dude]

OK Robin....From a non-atheist perspective. Have you ever looked into getting a "live" tree? They will take the entire tree out of the ground for you (including the dirt ball surrounding the roots) and wrap that in canvas or burlap. You can place that into a pail where you can keep it watered enough to keep alive during the holiday season. This does take some practice but we dig a hole in our yard prior to the "freezing" season and trans-plant the tree after Christmas. So far we have a 95% survival rate and we have beautiful evergreens that are scattered about our families land.

On another note to my dear brother EROS,

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Sorry brother, you may joke as much as you want but the truth is before you always! I only pray that you find it before it's too late!!

Adam aka Big Dude

 

[Mamu]

After 35 years of live trees I went out and bought an artificial tree 2 years ago.

I know! I know! I've always said I would never own an artificial tree, but age sometimes changes the way we think.

When I did have a live tree, I would water it every day with boiling water, I don't know why this works, (melts the sap so the tree can absorb water) but it does. My tree would stay up for 5 weeks. Most of the time it was still in pretty good shape. If you use boiling water be careful not to get burned.

 

[fletcher21]

It's important to keep the stand full of water! Once the bottom of the tree trunk dries up, it doesn't "drink" like it does right after a fresh cut. (Although the boiling water trick sounds like a good one if you do run out of water.)

 

[robinb]

Originally posted by EROS
ROBIN, we have a BIG tree, decorated to the ceiling. My DW is a devout Catholic......... we also have a manger with a dark-skinned Jesus (from Mexico), and we attend Midnight Mass on Xmas eve . Hey, perhaps some holiness will percolate through and save me from an eternity in hell .....

Eros, I Don't Think So!

I have a question about your dark-skinned baby Jesus. Do you put him out on Christmas Eve or earlier? I used to make my mom wait until midnight on Christmas Eve and we would have big production about bringing out the baby Jesus (her's is white, plugged in and glowed in the dark). We would place him in the manger with his glowing parents and the three glowing wise men (who were far too close for my taste, since they don't really get there until Twelth Night) looking on. We would then drink champagne and sing "Happy Bithday Je-sus (pronounced like the name in Spanish).". *sigh* That was fun, even for an atheist .

 

[Pin Wizard]

As soon as we get it home, the bottom gets cut. Then it goes in a bucket of water outside for a day. Once it's in the house, we put whatever food into it. Home Depot has packets of food for Christmas trees.

 

[Nutsy]

you buy an artificial one