Selection Cutting and Care of Christmas Tree

O’ Christmas Tree, O’ Christmas Tree, how lovely are your branches.  Now is the time to select your tree for Christmas.  How do you decide on what tree to get, where to get it, when to get it and how do you care for it? 

Tree selection

When I was just a little boy, my father would take me to the Haymarket in Boston to get our tree.  He worked part-time as a handyman and had several “old” ladies that he did chores for.  One of those chores was to get them their Christmas Tree.  For one it was a Hanukah bush decorated with Stars of David, dreidels, and menorahs.  We would go to where they were unloading the trees off of the big trucks that brought them down from Maine and Canada.  Dad would dicker with one of the drivers and buy a bunch of 5 or 6 trees.  His customers always got the best of the bunch and we took what was left over.  We always had what started out as a “Charlie Brown” Christmas Tree, usually 9 or more feet tall, 6 or 7 feet wide and missing branches and with flat spots.  My father would take out his drill and drill holes in the trunk of the tree and add branches to it from the other trees or a left over tree to fill in these holes. We always had a beautiful tree when he was done.

If you buy your tree retail from a dealer or a certified tree farm you should not have these problems but there are considerations that need to be made. 1^st is the type of tree, be it a Douglas or Frazer fir or Scotch pine or one of the many other types is a matter only of personal preference. I prefer a nice Douglas fir myself. The needles are of medium length and the branches are relatively strong. We have many heavy ornaments that need strong branches. The shape is a gentle cone shape, narrower at the base then most of them. Most importantly, it smells like Christmas.

Most Christmas Tree farms and dealers have sculptured trees. These have been pruned to a perfect shape and are very full. I again prefer the more Charlie Brownish tree. We often would cut our own tree from my father-in-law’s dairy farm. It would have many open spots for our long ornaments to hang down in. The ornaments, tinsel and garland would hang in the tree not just lay on it. Again an open or tight tree is a personal preference.

You want a vibrant Christmas Tree, not one half dead. (Let’s face it, when we bring them home they are all dead they just don’t know it). If you are cutting your own Christmas Tree this should not be problem. Don’t worry about a bunch of brown needles that is natural. Grass and spiders are also natural. Just give the Christmas Tree a good shake and banging before bringing it into the house. A Christmas Tree lot bought tree this is a different story. These Christmas Trees have already been shook and pounded to remove any dead needles and junk before shipping. If your lot Christmas tree has brown needles pass it by. Take your hand and run along a branch from inside the tree to the end of the branch and see if the needles come off. If the needles do come off pass it by.

 Measure the space for you Christmas Tree.  Do not, I repeat, Do not trust you eye to take the measurements.  I have done this often and have always gotten a tree way to big for the space we had for it.  My daughter and I went one time and after downsizing the tree three times ended up with a tree that took up over half the living room.  I do like big tree though.  Measure both the height and the width of the space.  In an open lot or field the tree will look a lot smaller than it is.  When you get home you can do some trimming on the height but not the width.  A Christmas Tree will normally have a tall spike on the top.  That is this year’s new growth. Most of the spike can be cut.  Be sure to leave enough to support the Christmas Tree topper. 

From the bottom you will want to cut about an inch of the bottom of the Christmas Tree if you bought it from a dealer.  This will allow water to be take up into the Christmas Tree.  A good-sized Christmas Tree should drink a good half gallon to a gallon of water a day.  Make sure your Christmas Tree stand will hold that much water.  It is very important to keep your Christmas Tree hydrated as a safety matter.  A dry Christmas Tree is a severe fire hazard.

When cutting a live Christmas tree get it into water as soon as possible.  Measure both height and width in the field before cutting.  Using a bow saw cut your tree as close to the ground as possible.  This will give you the best base to set into the Christmas Tree stand.  Also if you cut about 1/3 of the way thru the tree and then finish the cut from the other side the outer bark will not rip and damage the Christmas trees ability to take up water.

 Believe it or not timing is very important when cutting a live tree.  I am sorry to say that we have blown it for this year.  You should cut your Christmas Tree just before the Full Moon.  The height of the waxing moon is when the needles are most set on the tree.  After an old lady who lived in the back wood of Savoy Hollow, in the Berkshire Hills, told us to cut at the end of the waxing moon, we laughed at her.  Then we started to notice that when we cut our Christmas Tree as she directed it would last “forever”.  We would loose very little needles even when taking down the tree and dragging it through the house and out the back door.  We would then set it by our back shed.  Come spring when we took it to the garden for spring burning it still would be fully needled and mostly green.  On the other hand, when we cut on the new moon most of the needles were left in the living room floor on Christmas morning as we worked to get the presents out from under and around the Christmas Tree. 

Our Christmas Trees cut on the waxing moon (three days before full is best) have withstood amazing abuse.  We even set them up with no water in the stand, just crossed boards with a long nail going up the center of the trunk.  We heat with wood so our house is very dry and tend to dry out the trees and plants in the house.  Trees cut during the right phase of the moon survive this treatment.  I do not know why.  I don’t know the science behind it but it has been proved again and again.

And a final word about Christmas Tree stands. Make sure your stand is wide enough and tall enough to support your tree. I have had two tree fall over and it can be a very traumatic and dangerous. Broken lights and favorite or sentimental ornaments can be heart breaking. A child trapped or hurt by the falling tree is a horror. But I have seen the results of them falling into other Christmas decorations with burning candles and that is disastrous. My fathers “real” job was a firefighter. To not have him home on Christmas Eve because someone’s house was burning down due to negligence about a Christmas Tree was devastating to both us and the family that lost everything. Consider tying off your Christmas Tree with thin wire or fishing line to a window frame or crown molding to support it. Watch for little children and pets trying to climb a tree or pull on it to get that candy cane. It may look funny on AFV (America’s Funniest Videos) but it is not worth even the $100,000 if someone gets hurt.

So remember: Safety First, Measure twice Cut once, water your Christmas Tree and properly support it. And have a Blessed and Merry Christmas and keep rocking around that Christmas Tree.