Choosing A Real Christmas Tree

Is this going to be your first year having a real Christmas tree rather than an artificial tree in your home? Here are our top tips for making sure you select a healthy tree which is likely to last the Christmas period . . .  

Choosing a real Christmas Tree is a bit like buying fresh fruit or veg which you haven’t grown yourself – how it looks, how it feels and where it comes from are the three vital factors to consider. 

A Good Colour

A fresh, well cared for Christmas Tree will have a healthy green appearance with few browning needles visible.

Depending on the species of Christmas Tree you choose will affect its colour, shape, and feel. Here are a few of the common types of trees which you should find for sale in the UK:

Fir Trees

Fir trees are popular as Christmas trees as their branches are dense and slightly upturned, their needles are short, well distributed around the stems and are softer than spruce needles. The types of fir trees you’ll find available include the Nordmann Fir - this is the most popular tree – about 80% of trees sold are a Nordmann - Noble Fir, Serbion Fir or Douglas Fir.

This photograph of a branch off a Nordmann Fir illustrates the needles typical to this fir tree – these needles are soft and cannot be rolled between your fingers. The needles on fir trees attach to the stems with suction cup-like attachments.

Spruce Trees

Whilst the needles of a fir tree are fairly soft, those of a spruce tree are sharply pointed and you’ll find between two to five needles come from a single point on the stem.

The Needle Test

A healthy Christmas Tree will have needles that are flexible and secure. If you don’t mind carrying out a couple of tests here are two ways to test the needles - depending on where you are buying your tree from and how it’s wrapped will enable you to carry out these tests easily, with ingenuity or make these tests virtually impossible!

(1) Touch Test – the easiest test if the trees are unwrapped is to run your hand along the branches of the tree. If the needles are flexible, don’t break or fall off this is a good sign of a healthy tree.

(2) Drop Test – a more difficult test dependent on where you are buying your tree from is a simple drop test. Lift the tree a few inches off the ground and drop it. Very few needles should fall if it’s a healthy tree (a few brown needles from the inside of the tree might fall but this is perfectly normal) but if the floor is covered in needles shop elsewhere.

Where Was It Grown

A real Christmas Tree is more eco-friendly than an artificial tree, having a lower carbon footprint and being recyclable in the New Year. However, some factors will affect how eco friendly it is, including where it has been grown, because of the miles involved in getting it from the grower to where you are buying it from. This will also affect how ‘fresh’ the tree is, so it’s good to do a bit of research to see where your tree originated.

For a really ‘fresh’ tree look in your area for a ‘pick your own’ or reputable nursery where the trees have been grown by them, so not imported and not grown miles and miles from where you live. Some places will allow you to choose your tree before it’s cut, and some will have them pre-cut ready for you to select from. Simply look online for a Christmas Tree Farm near you and take it from there.

If you don’t have this option available to you then you might want to pick a tree up from your local garden centre, superstore, or supermarket. Again, do some online research to see where they are sourcing their trees from – as you can imagine the further the tree has to travel, the longer it will be from the tree being cut to it being there for you to purchase – in fact there could be weeks between the two events and if not cared for correctly your tree could already be in poor health before you buy it.

But Before You Shop Always Remember . . .

You don’t want to buy a tree, get it home, and then find it’s too tall for the space and you need to cut a piece of the top or bottom before you can even get it in the room it’s for! So like many things, it’s a case of measuring first before shopping “measure twice, cut once”.

First decide where you tree is to be positioned. You should avoid placing your tree near direct heat, such as near a fireplace or radiator, as this type of direct heat source will dry your tree out faster, meaning it will need watering even more and it could be a fire hazard.

Depending on the size of tree you can accommodate, you need to decide if it’s going to stand on the floor or on a table. Measure the height available, remembering that you’ll need to accommodate the space for the stand the tree will be secured in at the base, and space at the top for your star or angel. The general rule of thumb is, if you aren’t adding a tree topper to the tree you’ll need to leave about 6 inch free above the tree, if you’re adding a topper than allow about 12 inches.

Who Will Be Sharing The Tree Did you know that different species of Christmas have different types of needles . . . and if you have young children or pets sharing your home at Christmas than it might be beneficial to choose a type of tree with soft needles, like a pine tree or fir tree, rather than a spruce tree which has sharp needles.

If a cat or dog chews the needles from a real Christmas tree, as they are not digestible, can be mildly toxic, and sharp, the best that can happen is that it can cause an upset stomach making them vomit or drool excessively . . . at worst the sharp needles could obstruct or even puncture their gastrointestinal system.

If you have pets and want to have a real Christmas Tree – and, of course, even if you have an artificial tree your cat or dog could still injure themselves if they decide to chew on it – then there are a few things you can do to reduce the risks to your pets:

• Choose a ‘non-drop’ variety of tree. Non-drops are those trees which will retain their needles for significantly longer than other types and could be one of the reasons that the Nordmann Fir is the most popular Christmas tree as this has excellent needle retention. Even after a Nordmann tree has dried out it will still retain most of its needles.
  
  
• Shut the door. If your cat or dog has free access to all the rooms in your house, then when you’re sleeping, they could be tempted to visit your Christmas tree. Ideally have your tree in a room where you can close the door – no access means no damage to your tree and no injury to your pets. Fitting a baby gate could prevent access for a dog . . . your cat might just see it as something new to climb over before climbing the tree. You could put something around the tree to prevent access – although this again only really works for dogs. So when you’re not there to supervise close the door.

Giving Your Christmas Tree The Best Start

So you’ve took your measurements, prepared a space, bought your tree and it’s time to put it in position ready to take pride of place over Christmas. There are a few simple things you can do to help it survive the Christmas period still looking green and healthy.

Cut Off The Bottom Of The Tree Trunk 

If you have chosen a pre-cut tree then the base where the tree was cut will have sealed, so to enable it to suck up the water it needs to stay healthy whilst it’s in your home you need to cut a least an inch of the base of the trunk.

Did you know ? When your Christmas tree is cut sap starts to ooze out. This sap will have hardened within about 5 hours of the tree being cut . . . so if you are buying a pre cut tree then the sap will have hardened. When it does, the seal it makes prevents the tree from absorbing any more water. So it’s this ‘seal’ which you are removing when you cut the trunk when you get the tree home.

Stand Up Straight

No matter how perfect the size of your tree, how gorgeous it’s colour and shape, if you don’t have a good stand to support it, you’ll be in trouble! You need a stand which is strong enough to support the size of Christmas tree you have bought, one which will hold the trunk straight and secure and one which will hold water so your can keep your tree topped up with water to keep it healthy.

And you need your stand ready when you have your tree – so buy it at the same time as your tree or have it ready already!