Now, if you can, buy a tree with roots in a pot, which you can use year after year. Why not? When it grows too big for indoor use, it can be replanted outdoors in the garden (unless you live where it's very cold -- see below). There are more and more potted trees on the market each year, so look around in your community. If you opt for an artificial tree, select a good quality product, which can be used for many years.
Many communities offer recycling programs where you can leave your old Christmas tree to be shredded. Check with your local authority before disposing of your tree to see if they have such a scheme.
Make sure that your tree is properly secured and positioned away from doors, stairs, open fires, and heaters. Use only good quality Christmas tree lights which meet approved standards. We suggest LED lights that use 1/50th the energy of regular holiday lights and don't present a fire danger because they do not get hot. If watering a tree, ensure that the electricity is switched off and that no water comes in contact with the lights! According to a recent study from the University of Minnesota, Christmas trees are renewable and environmentally friendly. In a recent newsletter, they write:
If you're heading to a Christmas tree lot or tree farm soon, go without a twinge of environmental guilt, suggests Deborah Brown, horticulturist with the University of Minnesota Extension Service. Harvesting trees for holiday decorations is environmentally sound because the trees are raised for that purpose, often on marginal land that wouldn't support other types of agriculture.
"During the seven to ten years that a Christmas tree grows, the tree provides wildlife habitat and helps hold the soil and prevent erosion," Brown adds. "Commercial tree operations plant and harvest trees every year. Each year's harvest is quickly renewed, and tree farms never strip large portions of land for a single year's holiday greenery."
She says environmentally-conscious Minnesotans sometimes think they should "save forests" by using a living Christmas tree and then planting it in the yard after the holidays. "This sounds good, but it almost never works in a climate as cold as Minnesota's," Brown says. "Even if a tree is kept indoors for only a day or two -- and few people are willing to keep a tree up for such a short time--a live tree begins to come out of dormancy. Then it can't take the shock of returning outdoors where temperatures may hover around zero in late December."
Brown adds that because light levels are low here in winter, keeping a tree indoors until weather moderates is also impractical. "Clearly the idea of a living Christmas tree is intended for areas with milder weather than here," she says. "If you want to enjoy the beauty and fragrance of a north woods conifer, go ahead and buy a fresh cut tree. No one should feel guilty about using a live tree for a few weeks of holiday enjoyment."
Source: Deb Brown, (612) 624-7491
Writer: Deedee Nagy, EDS, (612) 625-0288, dnagy@extension.umn.edut.
[ Next: Number 3 ]
