Needles coming off real Christmas tree

DonnaP

Hi

This is the first year we have had a real Christmas tree and the needles are coming off so fast that the bottom branches are almost stripped bare! (I have 3 year old twins who seem to keep knocking these branches every 5 minutes!).

Any tips for anything I can do to prevent this, or is this the downside to real trees??

Thanks

newleaf

Do you know what type of tree it is? Some varieties hold their needles better than others. We have found Nordman Fir is best for keeping needles on. You need to saw a couple of inches off the trunk and put it in a stand or bucket that you can add water to, they slurp up loads of water in the first day or two. You also need to keep it in a cool room, trees obviously aren't designed to survive in heated environments. We put ours up in the conservatory, with no heating on. If you don't like the sound of all this, then an artificial tree is probably better for you. If I had small kiddies myself I wouldn't have a real tree.

Pink.

Hi Donna,

You should get more help with this on the Christmas board so I'll move your thread over there.

Pink

tawnyowls

Hairspray's supposed to help - keeps the water in.

DonnaP

Hi

Not sure what type it is. We did stand it in a bucket etc as you advise but the room is quite warm (thw whole house is with young children).

I think I'll hoover manically this year and next year go back to an artificial one!

Donna

Hay_2

Is it near a radiator?That made our tree drop its needles....watering it enough?

Penelope_Penguin

What we do:

1. Have real tree - can't bear artificial ones.

2. Buy one with roots - there's a farm near us where we choose our tree in August, tie a label to it, and the owner digs it when you ask.

3. We collect ours no more than 7 days before christmas day. DH is picking ours up on Friday morning, and we'll decorate after dark, with carols on CD, mince pies, and mulled wine.

4. It goes into a large plastic pot, weighed down with bricks, filled with soil. Cover the outside of the pot with festive paper.

5. Put it up in the hallway, rather than warm living room. That way we see it in the dark as we walk past, and it looks beautiful.

6. Water it well every day - I fill a large plastic milk carton daily.

7. Mine drops hardly any needles, until I take it out on 12th night, when it drops the lot!

HTH, Penny. x

lellie

They need a couple litres water a day.. make sure you are watering it - turn your heating down if you can - or open the window for an hour or two for a blast of colder air.

prettypennies

Did you chop a chunk off the bottom before putting it in water. The tree sels over the cut if left out of water for too long.

I had one one year from Homebase which was completely bald within a few days. I complained to the store. Told them I had done everything right (watering etc) so they gave me another one.

This year I was given a tree for nowt from my neighbour who is a tree surgeon. So I spent the money I was going to spend on a tree on a decent stand with a big aperture for water. I chucked in some no needle drop solution and one week on the tree hasn't lost a single needle.

grunnie

Baby bio plant food in the water you give it every day will soon have it looking Ok :j