On living Christmas trees

28 Nov 2007

Got questions about the environment? Ask Umbra.

Hi Umbra,

I'm surprised that in your column on Christmas trees, you didn't mention the option of living trees, although I know they cannot be subjected to our warm indoor temperatures for very long. Can you discuss the option of living trees, how to treat them indoors, and what to do with them after the holidays?

Thanks,
Christina Gallegos
Treeplanter and Naturalist
Seattle, Wash.

Editor's Note: Oh, how Umbra would love to answer this question -- but she's been kidnapped! Please donate to Grist by 11:59 p.m. Pacific on Dec. 11, 2007, to secure her safety. The sooner we see 2,000 gifts of any size, the sooner you'll get the great green advice you've come to know and love.

Editor's update: Umbra has been released, thanks to your generosity, and was able to pen an answer to this query.

Dearest Christina,

Yes, but please forgive me if I become a little emotional. Grist thought I should take a few days off to recover from the kidnapping, but I feel the best way to cope is to get right back to work. Two weeks stuck in the media room of that McMansion, with only occasional trips out in an Excursion, weeks of weird meat products delivered on expanded polystyrene by people who thought it was Styrofoam, people doing the dishes with the hot water running full blast, no reference books ... it was a hard time. I tell you, those people had better not get a living tree, because they keep the house at 75 degrees.

Indoor trees needle a lot of TLC.

Photo: iStockphoto

Maybe they could get a Norfolk pine houseplant, though. Norfolk Pines are not true pines, but they are pinelike in aspect and make a nice non-hardy houseplant that can be used as a yearly Christmas tree. Norfolks do need high ambient moisture, so in a heated home they would need a humidifier or a little tray of water under, but not touching, their pot.

It's also feasible to buy a live evergreen tree, with the intent to later plant it in your yard. If you would like to bring a living, rootballed tree into your home for the holidays, please carefully consider where you will later plant the tree and how big it will get. Many evergreen trees grow to 40 or 60 feet and become significant members of the landscape. The tree should be carefully packed into a large pot by a professional at the nursery where you purchase it, be slowly acclimated to the indoors, and spend no more than 10 days indoors before slowly re-acclimating to the outdoors. It cannot tolerate the heat from multiple incandescent light strings, fireplaces, or heat vents. It must be carefully watered according to nursery instructions, and planted outside before the spring. Unless you commit to doing all these caring tasks and more, you may as well have purchased the already-dead tree rather than the living one. Plus, only those with vast tracts of land could do it every year. Mayhap better to have the Norfolk pine.

Oh, and if you live in Portland, Ore. -- and maybe other places? let me know, readers -- you have the option of renting a live tree.

Happy Hanukkah,
Umbra

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Umbra Fisk is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcover and Periodicals Unit, floors 2B-4B.

Comments: (2 comments)

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Live trees are lower maintenance than Umbra says

Hi aspiring rootballers,
I grew up with live Christmas trees--rootball, galvanized bucket, post-Christmas planting and all--and find Umbra's advice a little over the top (though I have no doubt that it's what she was told). We always kept ours away from the heat and watered regularly. But beyond that, we didn't do anything else that she recommends--having the nursery "swaddle" it, skimping on the lights, acclimatizing it in and out--and they did just fine. My family lived in relatively mild NC, but I'd still argue that live trees aren't as high maintenance as she says. And today, seeing those trees--20 and 30 years later--evokes some of my most pleasant Christmas memories. Happy holidays, Tim

by Tim Gray at 11:10 AM on 12 Dec 2007

porches work well...

We kept our potted tree on our (enclosed) front porch all winter, leaving it in the cool, but protected environment and watering it. When we planted it in the spring, it grew several inches within weeks.

by debh at 6:49 PM on 18 Dec 2007

The comments of Grist users reflect the opinions of those individuals only, and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of Grist, its staff, its board members, their psychotherapists, or their aestheticians. Got it?

Root Cause

On living Christmas trees