christmas trees: real? fake? balled and burlapped?
i want a balled tree but we can't get it til xmas eve in that case...i have always had an artificial tree b/c i hate the thought of killing a tree, but i miss the smell. what do you guys do? anyone had luck with a balled tree that you kept in the house for more than 3 weeks??
We always get a real tree. I can't budge Brian on this one at all. I keep at him though every year, and the kids (they see both our points). I do love the smell actually, but still.
what's a balled tree?
I don't know what a balled tree is. Or maybe I do and just don't know it!
We also get a real tree. It's because of me. DH could care less what we had but I have memories of being a child and living in the mountains of Wyoming being able to go into the forest, pick one out and chop it down. We loved it and would have to trudge our way through a foot or two of snow. VEry surreal, now that I think of it.
Now I take my kids to a Christmas tree farm off the highway. Not the same, but I hope they have good memories and don't remember hearing the semis speeding by.
We get a real tree too but we are freaks and just prune one out of the cedars in our front yard. It ends up being a small tree but hey, we have a small house so it fits us well. We only put it up for a week or two and then it heads to the regional composting station.
"Meddle not in the business of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup" ~anonymous
We use a fake tree, and I have a bottle of pine essential oil (it has to be essential oil which is made from the real thing, not synthetic) and put a few drops of it in a pot of water that I keep on the stove to humidify the dry air. It smells like a real tree! Sometimes I put a few cloves in the water too.
it's what I always had as a kid. This year we have a faux tree because it was much less expensive ($10) than anything else we saw. My step dad & my mom do a live tree, this year they are using the same one they used last year, it's in a container they bring in every year. If you feel badly about killing a tree you could get a real one than plant a new tree after christmas, or you could do a faux tree and for the piney smell buy a mini living tree that can be planted once the season is over (I saw a bunch at the grocery store along with rosemary trees)
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Real trees keep the tree farms in business - they continue to grow trees on land that might otherwise be developed, and trees contribute to cleaning the air, producing oxygen,etc. Of course it is ideal for the farmers to not use pesticides/synthetic fertilizers, etc. That may be a sticking point. Nonetheless, I feel it's important to preserve the real tree industry. It does make me sad to see those huuuuge trees cut, for instance the one for Rockefeller Center. Those are clearley a little harder to replace.
my uncle and aunt grow christmas trees (and other landscaping plants, flowers, etc) on their farm. they turned their dairy farm into this type of business about 20 years ago and out of all the farmers in my family, they are the only ones who are financially stable. plus it is far more ecomonically friendly to grow christmas trees than to raise dairy cows and cattle.
that being said, we don't do christmas trees at all. BD is jewish and i just never wanted one up in my house enough to make it happen. but maybe next year...
I do get a living tree every year (ball and burlap, in a pot). It is a great tradition and sometimes I use the same tree 2 years in a row (just gotta keep it watered well in the summer). They can only be inside for 10-12 days, but that is enough for me. Planting it is fun.
"i have always had an artificial tree b/c i hate the thought of killing a tree," Well, what is better? A factory producing plastic trees out of lord knows what, or a tree farm that could otherwise be a freakin' parking lot?? I don't know how earth friendly tree farms are, or how much wild life they support, but I am suspecting that killing living trees is more eco-friendly than buying fake ones.
Still, I like the live ones because you get the best of both worlds. Supporting tree farms, and planting one more tree on this earth.
For those of you who are urban or don't have anywhere to plant a tree--I am betting it would be easy to give one away on freecycle or craigslist--then you're planting a tree without ever touching a shovel! the best time of year to plant them is while they are still dormant, like before or in February.
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and you plant it in the yard directly after. trouble is you can only have it for 5-8 days.
i think we are going to be shameful and cut one from the "country" this year. sigh.