Live Christmas Tree Care

Why Buy a Live Christmas Tree?

If you are planning to add an evergreen to your landscape, you can buy one now, use it as a Christmas tree, then plant it outside.
All Meadows Farms live Christmas trees sell at half the price charged at most nurseries; therefore, the price difference in a live tree versus a cut tree is only about $10.00
It is more interesting for children to have a tree that they can plant and can watch it grow.
You and your family can further support the ecology movement by planting a tree.
A live tree will be more aromatic, will not dry out, and stays fresher, thereby providing you with a safer tree.
The survival rate is 8 out of 10 trees when planted outside after Christmas.
Even if the tree did not survive, many people would prefer a live tree because of the aroma, freshness, and additional safety of a live tree.

Put the tree in a protected area such as a carport or garage so that the rootball will not freeze or leave tree out and cover the rootball with an old rug, straw, leaves or other mulch material.
You do not have to water the tree during this time.

You can use various containers for your living Christmas tree. One of the best is the “saucer” sled; it can be easily “scooted’ around until you have it in the position you desire. Also, you can use any metal or plastic container or basket. Half whiskey barrels are excellent.
It is not necessary to water the tree, but it would be best to keep one inch of water in the bottom of the container.
Your tree should not be kept more than ten to twelve days indoors.

Since the ground may freeze after the holidays, select the spot where you’ll want to plant the tree soon after bringing your tree home. Dig the hole right away, placing the soil removed from the hole in a container, and put it in the garage. Then you are all ready to plant the tree, following the usual procedure when the holidays are over.
You can select the spot where you’ll want to plant the tree and cover the area with leaves, straw, wood chips, or other mulch material. Cover this with burlap to keep it from blowing away. This cover will prevent the ground from freezing if the temperature should drop, and you’ll be able to plant your tree as soon as the holidays are over.
If the ground has frozen and you did not prepare the ground beforehand, you can keep the tree in a protected area until the ground thaws. Don’t expose the roots, or they’ll dry out and die. Stand the burlap-wrapped earth ball in a tub and pack damp soil or peat moss around it.
When it’s time to plant: leave the burlap on, being careful not to disturb the root system. Set earth ball into the ground, so that top of the ball is slightly above ground level. Fill the hole with good topsoil. Mixing topsoil with the existing soil to hold moisture is very good — firm soil around the tree and use 2-3 inches of mulch. You should stake the tree so that winds will not blow it over.

Happy Holidays From Meadows Farms!