Posted by Aimee | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 03-01-2012
Live Christmas trees have steadily been becoming more popular. In a lot of ways this makes sense, many refuse to relinquish the smell and feel of a live Christmas tree for the holidays and a live tree fills that roll without killing a tree.
Live trees come in many sizes but most frequently are small, 2ft or less in height. They also are usually in nursery pots, often within decorative containers. As soon as it is convenient you will want to replant the tree into a pot with good drainage that is larger than the nursery pot it is in. Take note of what type of tree yours is. The most common that I have seen are noble firs. Also popular are rosemary trees that have been pruned to shape.
A rosemary may be a good choice because not only can you use pruning’s for meal seasoning but they are unlikely to grow as quickly or as large as a tree. I did not do my research before purchasing a live Christmas tree and now I wish I had. On hindsight I would have gotten a rosemary version and I would definitely NOT have purchased a pre-decorated one. It was an expensive nightmare and though the company did attempt to rectify the problem the second tree came in nearly as poorly. Fortunately the trees themselves were fine, it was the decorations that were a problem. They were wrapped so tightly and thickly around the tree that it was all you could see.
To care for your live Christmas tree make sure to look up the specific breed you have and make sure to maintain its preferences. In general most will want moist soil with a good organic fertilizer mixed in. Many of them prefer a slightly acidic soil. They do not like to be sitting in water though so make sure they have good drainage and a light layer of mulch doesn’t hurt to help keep moisture in.
Additionally when indoors they usually like to have their leaves lightly misted from time to time and most require a large amount of light. They will need to go outdoors eventually to get the light they need. If carefully taken care of you can get at least a few years Christmas services out of the tree and after that you can plant the tree in a suitable spot so it can really grow wild and provide a lot of shade, habitat, and food for wildlife. Pretty much a win-win situation.