<p>We usually cut down a tree at a nearby farm every year, but with my daughters not being home and not being as much in the mood, I bought a live already cut tree this year. It seemed fresh, they cut the bottom and it drank a lot of water for 2 days. Now it seems like it doesn’t go down very much at all, this morning,maybe a inch.
Is that normal for some? So far, the branches seem fine, needles not falling off, but I am hoping it will last until Christmas.
I’ve read to make a hole in the trunk under water but not sure how to go about this, I’m hoping it’s not a “dud”. We went to cutting our own because we had better luck but I know many people that buy pre-cut every year and they do fine.
Thanks for any tips.</p>
<p>This is how our tree drinks every year, and we go to the farm and cut it down. I don’t know the secret to getting a tree to drink for more than two days.</p>
<p>Seems like a pretty typical pattern. It should hang on through the holidays. Keep it wet but I don’t remember any of ours being really thirsty after the first few days. They lose a few needles but continue to look good until early January.</p>
<p>Yes, same here - drinks lots for the first few days then very slowly it disappears. In the past we’ve added an aspirin to the water - this year we added some sugar - we’ll see if it makes any difference in keeping the needles from falling.</p>
<p>We’re getting ours from a farm about two miles from our house. I love living in Maine! Last year, we actually cut one down in our backyard, because we live in the woods. But wild ones are scraggly - look like a giant version of Charlie Brown’s tree. One reason I suggested it was that DH tends to get grumpy about spending money for a tree, but this year he is the one enthusiastically saying we should go to the farm. Yes, I’m sneaky!</p>
<p>(Don’t forget the fabulous Costco trees. They are $27-28 and ours this year is fabulous! Not only is it 9 feet tall, I swear it’s 9 feet wide!!!)</p>
<p>I usually add a bit of sugar to the water but don’t know if it makes any difference. One year we had some additive made for cut Christmas trees which really made it last great.
And another year we bought a tree that had been sprayed with some chemical that made the needles stay on. That was the year of the tree that wouldn’t die–we put the tree over in the woods and the needles were still on it come June.</p>
<p>abasket–our tree this year is wider than usual (maybe less trimming done?)</p>
<p>^^^scary
(referring to chem-tree)</p>
<p>The garden guy on the radio said to keep a tree you take 2 in off the bottom, put it in a bucket for 2 days to drink all the water it will then bring it in to the smaller stand. Seems the 2 days is about right.</p>
<p>I like the idea of an aspirin in the water. Maybe that will make it less of a headache to put the lights on. Yuk, yuk.</p>
<p>Our experience of water absorption is about the same. We’re not too good about adding water, either, and it never seems to make much difference.</p>
<p>I’m so relieved to hear the two day drinking pattern is normal. For 15-20 years I have been trying to get ours to drink more, but to no avail. Then I just accepted the fact that our trees would never be big drinkers, and went on with life.</p>
<p>Ours does seem to dry out, but I attribute that to the fact that it is surrounded by glass on the south side of the house. It is freshly cut the day we bring it into the house. The only time it is noticeable is when we remove the tree from the house, so we have learned strategies to minimize the cleanup.</p>
<p>It is always shocking to me how soft and supple the branches are when the tree is brought in the house and how quickly they become NOT soft and supple - not needles falling off, but the branches just lose their freshness.</p>
<p>We do the aspirin thing and our trees always last until early January. We don’t cut them though, we get them already cut.</p>
<p>One aspirin for the tree, two for me!</p>
<p>Maybe I should go ahead and throw an aspirin in with the sugar water - geez, this tree is getting the royal treatment!</p>
<p>We initially fill the stand with a 2 liter bottle of Sprite. It acts as the sugar water.</p>
<p>We always cut down or bought our trees about two weeks before Christmas, cut two inches off, let them stand in a bucket outside for two days before bringing them in, and then added some of the ‘tree fresh’ that the nursery sold to the water. Ours always drank enough that the water level would drop 2-3 inches in our stand daily. Depending on the type of stand you have, yours may obviously be more or less. Our trees were almost always up until New Year’s, unless we happened to be travelling. Tons of needles will have fallen by then. Some people I know add some 7-Up into the water, probably for the same reason that sugar is mentioned.</p>
<p>A few years ago, I got tired of the clean-up and also the futile attempt at getting all of my Ds, or even a majority of them, together to make the trip to the tree farm. We bought two beautiful, pre-lit trees from Hammacher Schlemmer that I can put up on Dec. 1 and leave up for six weeks with no worry about needles all over everything or the fire risk of a dried out tree.</p>
<p>I wish our Costco had 9’ trees! They have nice ones at the same great price, but only 7 1/2’. :(</p>
<p>That is normal for Christmas trees, whether bought already cut or cut yourself, they willl gulp for a couple of days then stop drinking. There are things you can do (besides when picking a cut tree making sure it looks fresh, doesn’t drop needles when you bounce it, etc).</p>
<p>-Cut 2" off the bottom of the trunk and get it into water quickly. Some people recommend cutting the bottom off and putting it in a bucket in a cool place in the house to allow it to drink better, not sure if that works. The reason to get it into water quickly is otherwise the tree attempts to seal the ‘wound’ i.e the cut base, and it won’t drink water. </p>
<p>-Some also say to punch holes on the side of the trunk after cutting the bottom off, which will allow it to drink</p>
<p>-There are commercial ‘tree saver’ solutions that can help extend the life of the tree, I have also heard corn syrup, soda (which uses hfc), or aspirin can help keep it going, I think the commercial solutions are a lot easier and they do seem to work.</p>
<p>-If your house is particularly dry, have a humidifier going in the room where the tree is kept, even though pine needles are sealed to keep out water, a humid room will help keep it from drying out as fast. Likewise, try to keep the tree from heat outlets or direct sunlight, which likewise will dry it out. </p>
<p>-Even if it is a small tree, get a large capacity base, it makes a difference, because if you forget to give it water it is unlikely the base of the tree will get exposed as the tree drinks. Keep as much surface area on the trunk wet, it will help extend the life.</p>
<p>One of the goofiest things I saw was a kind of IV system for trees, rather then put it into a stand with water, you drill holes in the trunk, put plastic tubing that is fed by 2 liter bottles of water (re-used soda bottles)…they claim it makes the tree last longer, not so sure.</p>