Christmas tree won't drink water

[Robert Green]

"David" wrote in

Get a saw and cut the dried off part from the bottom of the tree and start again.

[Micky]

Hold its nose.

I was going to say that, but Bob knows more about Greens than I do.

[Art Todesco]

It's interesting that over the last 6 years I've bought fresh cut trees (watched the guy cut the tree I selected) and have usually taken at least 1/2" off the bottom, at home, before putting it upright. Some years they take lots of water and then trail off in a few weeks. This year, the tree took 5 gallons in the 1st 9 days, the most ever. I can maybe attribute some of it to the fact that I didn't have to take off too much bark to make it fit the stand; just a little on the bottom. I have a reservoir which feeds water through a 1/4" hose to the stand, so the water level is usually kept pretty high, unless I forget to fill the reservoir. I understand that the layer just under the bark is where most of the nutrients are sucked in, so that part of the trunk is always wet. Next year my tree probably won't take any water. Too much work getting it, cleaning up after it, etc. This year my wife actually had 2 asthma attacks, probably from molds, etc, while working on it. I should have power washed it before before bringing it into the house. We though we'd buy one of those Balsam Hills trees ... pricey, but they seem to look really good.

[Robert Green]

Nice one, you old "sock shucker" you! (-:

[Paintedcow]

I dont buy live trees. I have a small artificial one that I use. But when I was a kid, my father always bought a live tree, and he always cut off at least a half inch of the trunk, right before he put it in the stand. Then he put sugar water in the stand. I dont know if the sugar really served a purpose or was just some "old wives tale". But the trees held up well, and he never took them down until after New Years.

[Muggles]

I have a live potted Frazier Fir tree on my front porch that I bought a few weeks ago. I thought I was going to bring it in and decorate it as a table top tree, but instead I just kept it on the front porch and put lights on it out there. Inside I took the old lights off the table top tree from years past and put new LEDs on it and it looks like a brand new tree, now.

[Art Todesco]

Yeah, my niece does that every year, however, you can only keep the live potted tree inside for a few days ... anyway, that's what she told me. BTW, my 9 1/2' fresh cut Frasier Fir is still drinking water, but not as much as in the 1st 9 days. Now it's taking about a quart per day.

[Paintedcow]

Put it on a wheeled cart. Bring it inside during the day, roll it outside at night. You can plug it in to an outlet indoors or outdoors.

[Muggles]

I guess I love fir trees. Frazier fir is my second choice, and Noble fir come in first place.

[rbowman]

I like Douglas firs which aren't really a fir so they don't make the Tannenbaum cut.. I visit them in the woods but don't bring them home with me.

Where do you find nobles? They're a west coast species with a fairly limited distribution unless they're growing them in Christmas tree farms.

[Muggles]

I've seen Noble firs only at Christmas as cut trees. This year we actually had some potted Frazier fir trees at Lowe's garden center, so I bought one and will see if it'll survive our weird weather.

[Paintedcow]

If I really wanted a LIVE tree, I'd probably get one of these potted trees too. I've always thought that cutting down all those young conifer trees every year are a huge waste. They could become lumber or provide other needs, while giving us oxygen in the process. Instead they are cut down, put in someone's house for a few weeks, then tossed in the trash. Many of them dont even get into someone's home. They go to a xmas tree lot and are never sold, and just go right to the trash. That is such a waste.

The age old arguement is that they are PLANTED FOR THAT PURPOSE. Yea, that's true, but that uses up land that could be used to grow food or grow trees for lumber or other uses.

The artificial trees today can be very realistic looking, and do the same thing as a REAL tree. They are safer, and you dont have to buy a new one each year. Not to mention less work....

While LED light sets are a lot safer than the old incan... bulbs, live trees can still quickly start a fire if they are ignited. I cant even imagine how or why anyone with a brain would use candles on a conifer tree inside a house, yet that was common practice before electric xmas lights.

And for those who like the scent of pine in your house. There are lots of ways to achieve that without killing trees....

[brianmorrill56]

So true sold trees in NYC for 22 years and that is what I learned from all tree growers the company bought from need fresh cut and they only drink water from the inside of bark. Drilling doesn't do anything. No need for an asprin don't think they have a headache