You want your Christmas tree to survive the holidays without needles and stay green for a long time? Then follow these tips! So the needles stayed on the fir tree!
At Christmas time, my family always has a big fir tree with lots of glittery ornaments in the living room.
For a few days it glitters and sparkles beautifully. The green needles bring an indescribably good scent into the living room.
But then the needles patter on the floor at the slightest touch.
There is a kind of love-hate relationship between me and the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, for me it is part of Christmas - I would never want to do without a Christmas tree.
But it would be a little easier if the Christmas tree without needles.
Is that even possible? Can you really do something about it? I say: Yes! And tell you what you can do to keep the Christmas tree green for a long time this year!
Table of contents
- 5 steps how to keep your Christmas tree green
- Why the Christmas tree loses needles
- How the right type of tree prevents the Christmas tree without needles
- When you should buy the tree to keep the Christmas tree green
- Why you need to keep the tree moist if you want the Christmas tree to stay green
- How to dispose of the Christmas tree without needles
- What Christmas tree alternatives do not needles
A lush, green Christmas tree is as much a part of the holiday as presents, mulled wine and Santa Claus himself.
But you probably know those trees that lose needles after just a few days and no longer look beautiful.
That's over now, because I'll tell you which Christmas tree can do without needles, how to care for your tree and what alternatives there are.
5 steps how to keep your Christmas tree green
With these five simple tips, you'll celebrate with a Christmas tree without needles.
- Tree species: Nordmann fir and blue spruce are considered very robust
- Pay attention to the freshness
- Gentle transport and storage
- Regularly water and moisturize
- Pay attention to the right indoor climate
If you follow these simple steps, you'll celebrate the holiday with a lush green Christmas tree and sing "Oh fir tree, oh fir tree how green are your leaves."
But let's look at this in more detail.
Why the Christmas tree loses needles
It is a Christmas tragedy with the fir tree. In the worst case, just before Christmas, it starts to lose its beautiful green needles.
Just a moment ago, a richly decorated tree in the most beautiful green dress stood in the room and suddenly he puts on a botanical striptease.
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Why your Christmas tree needles
Conifers are well protected against moisture loss compared to deciduous trees, as little water can evaporate through the long, thin needles. The needles are also covered with a layer of wax, which further enhances this effect.
In the wild, classic Christmas trees like the blue spruce or the Nordmann fir can retain their needles for up to seven years! They constantly exchange old needles for new ones.
That is, in our living rooms, so they lose their fancy needles out of sheer necessity. If a felled Christmas tree loses its needles, then it is due to drought.
Dry heating air, can absorb a lot of water from the air and is thus the natural enemy of your fir tree.
Unfortunately, the normal water supply in the trunk and branches is no longer sufficient and new water can no longer be supplied via the roots.
For self-protection, he throws off the needles, which eat away at the last precious water supplies. In the long run, the once lush green tree unfortunately dries up and the fir tree needles fall off.
Sidefact: A Brunswick gardener counted all the needles his 2.20-meter spruce had lost. Counted off 1000 needles and weighed them. Then he swept up all the remaining needles and weighed them, too. From this he calculated: the spruce lost a total of 2,800,130 needles!
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How the right type of tree prevents the Christmas tree without needles
Between the tree species there are many different properties. Most securely hold Christmas tree needles on Nordmann fir. It is grown specifically for use as a Christmas tree. It does not sting and needles last a very long time.
It is no wonder that it is the Germans' favorite Christmas tree: almost 80 percent of all Christmas trees are Nordmann firs! It can even carry heavy ornaments well on its branches because it is very robust.
Its only disadvantage is that due to the small amount of resin in the trunk, it does not give off that classic scent like the blue spruce.
As a rule, the price of a Nordmann fir to one meter is from 20 to 35 euros, blue spruce ranges from eleven to 14 euros.
When choosing, also check the interface of your tree. If it is light, everything is good. However, if it is gray, this tree has been lying for a long time. This can happen when the fir trees have to be transported over long distances to find a new home. In addition, a fresh tree should not be needling. Just stroke a branch and check whether your Christmas tree loses needles.
The worse choice: A spruce (apart from the blue spruce) is not a good choice as a Christmas tree. It unfortunately loses a lot of needles in most cases.
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When you should buy the tree to keep the Christmas tree green
In addition to choosing the right species, the timing of your purchase is also important to the survival of your green beauty.
Even if you want to have something from your Christmas tree for as long as possible, the motto the sooner the better is wrong here.
Trees are most often offered from the beginning of December, when they are in dormancy. Problematic becomes the appropriate storage of the fir tree until the holiday.
High temperatures and low humidity are killers for your tree's green needles. So you should either buy the tree just before the festival or store it appropriately.
It is best to place it outside in the shade. Places like the balcony, the unheated garage and a dark unheated cellar are suitable.
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Slightly cut the trunk and put the tree in a water container. But even optimal storage conditions won't prevent your Christmas tree from losing needles if it sits around for weeks. So don't buy your tree too early!
You must also be careful not to subject the tree to too drastic temperature changes. Unfortunately, this can also lead to sudden drying out.
Before you decorate it, it should already be one or two days in the apartment, so that the branches can get into the right position. This will look much nicer in the end result.
Why you need to keep the tree moist if you want the Christmas tree to stay green
To fully enjoy the holiday season and get your Christmas tree through the holidays without needles, you need to pay attention to your indoor climate.
It's simple: when your Christmas tree needles, it loses moisture and becomes too dry.
Once your sweetheart is beautifully decorated in the room, it needs care just like a normal houseplant.
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The right place in the living room
You should definitely not place your Christmas tree too close to the heater, stove or other heat sources and give it enough space.
This also makes decorating much easier. The best place is always in the apartment, protected from the wind and sun, so that the tree is exposed to as few disturbing factors as possible.
Fir tree needles need water
It is fundamentally important that you water your Christmas tree properly. The air in winter is particularly dry and extracts more moisture from the environment than usual.
You can cut the trunk or the bark deeply, like a rose, so that the tree can better supply itself with water for a while. If you put it in your home, you should water the tree directly again. It must be able to cope with the temperature difference.
There are many tree stands that you can also use as water containers. Pure tap water, which you add fresh every day, is perfectly sufficient here.
You and especially your Christmas tree do not need any additives. You can also spray the needles directly with water twice a day. At about 20 degrees room temperature, a large fir tree usually tolerates 1-2 liters of water per day. Please do not use hot water, it can kill the tree.
So nothing stands in the way of a celebration with a Christmas tree without needles!
How to dispose of the Christmas tree without needles
You read it earlier - such a tree can lose quite a lot of needles. And we all certainly don't want to spread them around the apartment when we dispose of our Christmas tree. Fortunately, there are ways and means to get rid of the Christmas tree without turning your apartment into a sea of needles.
Before you move your Christmas tree, you can wrap it in plastic wrap. Many people swear by this tip. Start at the bottom and wrap your Christmas tree all the way to the top.
If your tree is rather narrow and not so high, you can easily put a garbage bag over it. Another alternative are old sheets or comforter covers. They are usually larger and more robust than garbage bags.
You can make packing even easier by tying the tree together with rope.
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If your first tree is wrapped in a garbage bag, foil or bed sheets, you can carry it out of the apartment so that the Christmas tree leaves your home without needles.
The best known method will probably be the disposal of the Swedish way. Your tree flies out: through the window, the balcony or the terrace. If you want to let the Knut fly, you should get a second person to help you, so that no passerby is buried by your tree. So that means: One person stands below and one person throws the fir tree literally out.
What Christmas tree alternatives do not needles
If you want to make it really easy, you can reach for a fir tree alternative.
Plastic tree
Meanwhile, the artificial Christmas trees do not look bad either. That your Christmas tree needles, is over with an artificial tree! In appearance, they look more and more like real trees.
The choice in terms of shape and design has grown a lot in recent years. You should urgently make sure that your plastic tree has a TÜV seal and that it is made of flame-retardant materials.
Tree with roots
If you, like me, do not want to give up a real tree, then you can choose one in a pot including root ball. The Christmas tree again continues to be supplied with moisture through the roots. Thus, these trees often keep better indoors than the already cut variants.
But even with these trees, you need to regularly water the pot.
If you like, you can even bury the tree again after Christmas. This way it can continue to thrive in your garden afterwards.
In the case of Nordmann fir, it is often very difficult to get them to grow again because they are deep rooted and when the root ball is removed, the deep root network is often very damaged.
Homemade wooden tree
A homemade wooden tree is very trendy. Do it yourself is the motto! We have also already reported in more detail about it for you.
The clear advantage here: There are no needles.
Your tree is made entirely of wood and you will never have to deal with sucking up needles.
How to make this wooden Christmas tree yourself!
We are especially excited about the possibility to get really creative. There are many great instructions for very different tree models made of wood. Often you use wooden slats as branches, a round wooden stick as a trunk and a tree slice as a foot. You can either hang the tree ornaments or attach them to the slats with thumbtacks.
As you can see, there are many ways to enjoy a Christmas tree without needles. You can get creative, choose a tree with roots or go for the plastic variety.
Our conclusion
If you want your Christmas tree to get through the holidays without needles, then you should pay attention to the appropriate indoor climate, water it regularly and do not buy the tree too early.
Or you can use one of the needle-free alternatives to the classic fir tree.
Either way you will spend your Christmas holidays with a beautiful tree and without pesky needles and look forward to the contemplative hours with a magnificently decorated tree. :)
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