According to tradition, a Christmas tree adorns our home from Christmas Eve to Epiphany. However, it often happens that pine-needles begin to drop after a couple of days so it is disposed of before January 6th. If you would like your tree to remain beautiful for weeks, follow these simple tips and you will not be disappointed.
Buy fresh trees only!
If stored in a cool place, a cut pine retains its shape and pine-needles for roughly 5-6 weeks. This may be affected by several factors, but if you want to enjoy it for a long time, the most important thing is to choose a fresh pine. A pine lying around at a vendor for weeks on end may already begin to drop its pine-needles after a few days and no matter how nicely it is decorated, the result is a very sad sight. Be cautious and check for freshness right at the time of purchase: pull your hands across the branches and see how many fallen pine-needles lie beneath it. The fresher a tree is, the less pine-needles will remain in your hands or on the ground and the more likely that it will make it well beyond Christmas.
Get to know the different types
Today, we can choose from a wide range of pines with pine-needles of different length and colour tone, more durable or more prone to drying out.
If you prefer a tree with longer needles, choose a black pine or a fir. These do not drop their needles, but they also dry out and become prickly over time.
If you are into silvery needles and don’t mind hard, prickly needles, the best choice is a silver fir. Its beautiful shape makes it easy to decorate, it smells nice and lasts a long time in the house.
The Nordmann and Douglas firs mean a durable solution with soft needles. Both can become pleasant-smelling, beautifully decorated Christmas trees, and on top of that they do not drop their needles, that is, they are more lasting. They are popular and, at the same time, expensive. Still, if you want to enjoy your tree for a long time, you should choose one of these.
The Spruce is a cheap and traditional type of tree, the choice for many because of its classic shape and amazing smell. This type dries up really fast so you should not have any long-term plans with it.
What matters the most: water
Just as we do not put freshly cut flowers in an empty vase, we should not try to keep our pine fresh without water either, because it would soon end up dropping its needles. You should choose a tree stand with a water reservoir which can store water so the tree erected in it will always have enough water. If you cannot find such a stand, you should try to place a bowl as large as possible beneath it so it can be easily refilled.
Before putting the tree up, cut a piece from the bottom of the trunk so the plant can absorb the water through a freshly cut surface, and you should place a substantial amount of water beneath it since it is most likely to come to your home in a rather dried up condition. Then replenish the water 0.5 litre a day and always ensure that the bottom of the trunk is covered with water.
Less heating, more vapour
The placement of the Christmas tree is typically determined by the space available in the room. Nonetheless, you should avoid placing it near a radiator, especially an electric heater or a stove. These would make it lose its freshness and dry out much faster. An open flame always entails the risk of fire and a dried-out pine tree catches fire and goes up in flames in the blink of an eye.
Turning down the heating and humidifying more frequently are also useful. The moisture content of the air helps the tree look fresher for longer. You can spray the branches with water, but make sure that the lights do not get wet.