How To Care Of Your Christmas Tree

1. Shop For Your Tree Early

Don’t need to wait until the last minute to buy your tree.  If you take care of your tree It will last until the end of the holiday period.  In fact your tree should last for a very long time.  So give yourself tome to choose carefully..

2. Buy a Properly Designed Christmas Tree Stand

This will save you a lot of time and trouble so don’t begrudge the extra expense

3. Check Only Buy a Tree That Looks Fresh

Your tree should look healthy.  Check this by running your hands gently over a few of the lower branches. The needles should stay in place.  Falling needles indicate that a tree is drying out.  If a tree sheds its needles don’t buy it.

4. Help Your Tree To Acclimatise

Try to avoid bringing a tree from the cold into a warm house.  Try turning off the heating in the room where you plan to erect the tree and then gradually increasing the temperature.

If you don’t plan to erect the tree immediately leave it somewhere cool, dry and sheltered.  You should stand the tree in a bucket of water, which must be kept topped up.

5. Cut a Small Section Off the Tree (About 1”)

You should do this just before you bring the tree into the house. The fresh cut will permit the tree to drink water via its pores, which would otherwise get blocked within a very short time. This is essential.

6. Keep Your Tree Away from Heat Sources

Heat will make the needles dry out, so the further the tree is from any source of heat the better.  However, if you are restricted to positioning the tree near a radiator,  turn the heating down as far as possible, and consider switching the radiator off overnight.

7. Place Your Tree in Water                                                                                        

Don’t put your tree in peat or soil or sand. They will block the pores of the tree.  You must put the tree in water!  That’s why we recommended that you buy a specially designed stand.  Before you fill your stand with water, it would be advisable to put a piece of waterproof material under the stand to protect your carpet from any spills that might take place when the stand is being filled.  You can camouflage this with some Christmassy material.

8. Keep Topping Up The Water

You should do this every day.  Your tree could drink a couple of litres every day.  If you don’t keep the stand topped up and the water level drops below the tree's trunk, sap will re-seal the bark within a few hours, and this will stop the tree from drinking any further water.  The only way to retrieve the situation would be to take the tree and cut another section off the bottom trunk !