Christmas Trees

[doctorb]

With all the foresters and loggers and millers and wood people here, I thought it would be interesting what type of tree this group decorated for Christmas.

Our neighbor grows a few rows of Christmas trees, and keeps them trim, replenishing them on a yearly basis.  He throws a little lunch party for neighbors and friends, and we cut our own tree.  It goes directly into our house and into water.  Drinks an incredible amount (I am talking about the tree, not the neighbors at the party. ).  One year when we kept it up a long time, the tree started to sprout green shoots.  It thought it was springtime!  Usually a Douglas Fir but also an occasional Blue Spruce.

[beenthere]

Norway spruce again.

[Jeff]

Due to all the allergies Stacy has, and now that I seemed to have grown into, we can't have a live tree in the house any more. 

[jim king]

There is a severe shortage of pine trees here and it is plastic or nothing.  I would love to have just a real wreath to have the smell in the house but no such luck.

[SwampDonkey]

Over the years we've had about any evergreen my mother was in the mood for. White cedar, red pine, white (skunk) spruce, and of course balsam fir. I don't put up a tree or a light here by myself. There are lots of folks living around here that don't put up anything for Christmas at all. Spruce is about the worst in my experience as it dropped needles pretty quick, and yup we always watered the trees. Some people can't take the smell of white spruce, but I tell ya black spruce sure does smell nice, it's kind of a sweet smell. There are actually some wreath makers that use black spruce. Love the smell of our northern balsam to.

[Kansas]

There was a very interesting article in the Washington Post this morning about the real vs fake arguments. It also touched on the "Christmas tree tax" that never happened. It presented arguments both pro and con for both. But there was one argument that caught my eye. Most all fake Christmas trees are made in China. The real trees are nearly all grown here in the United States. That industry employs 100,000 full and part time people here. That kind of sells me on real trees. Here is the article if you want to read it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/the-green-debate-on-christmas-trees-fresh-vs-fake/2011/12/07/gIQAk3mLjO_story.html

I haven't put up a tree since the kids have been gone. I probably ought to; we have a bunch of Austrian pines that we planted at work for reasons long since forgotten. A few are still small enough that they would work.

[SwampDonkey]

Lots of Christmas trees up here to, I have a cousin who lives off Christmas tree sales and there is a big outfit nearby called Snokist (owned by the local Fox family) that sells a mighty pile of Christmas trees. When you factor in $50-$500 for a tree, depending on size, that's a lot of revenues. They employ a lot of people. They have thousands of acres.

[thecfarm]

We put up a fake tree. We use to put a live tree up. But walking through a Christmas Tree Farm for an hour looking at 200 trees,getting it down to 20 trees,than wanting to know where a certain tree was,but can't find it now, than getting it home only to hear,If I would of noticed that bad spot I would not of got it, kinda took the fun out of it.

[SwampDonkey]

Sometimes we complain too much. My brother is the worst, nothing can satisfy it. 

[sprucebunny]

I would love to make part of my land a Christmas tree farm. I'd work at it harder if I thought I could get $50 a tree ! There are millions of small balsam already.
I usually cut several and zip tie them together to look bushy and keep it on the porch outside the window. The birds like it and the squirrels chew the lights off !!! It stays there until March.

[Rocky_Ranger]

We always use a real tree and always will.  Running a Christmas tree farm back in the day helps keep the spirit.  Lots of hard work, in all kinds of weather, spraying lots of "stuff", but you couldn't help the feeling of seeing families torture themselves over finding the right tree.  Got a white fir this year - cut in the mountains of AZ.

[Ron Wenrich]

Went to Concolor fir this year.  In the past have had Doug fir and white pine.  We do the real tree as my wife still enjoys to decorate it, even though the kids are a little too old to really care too much.  It also supports a friend that has a tree farm. 

I thought about a tree farm when I bought the place, but ended up with goats instead.  Christmas trees and goats are not a good mix. 

[Roxie]

We use an artificial tree for the same reason as Jeff, my son is allergic to pine. 

[Magicman]

Artificial tree, but she has Cedar, Holly, Camellias, and other greenery everywhere for decorations.  That plus the Summer outside plants that become inside plants during the Winter.

One of my favorite plants this time of year is the Red Maple that is just outside my window here in the sun room.  I did not take a picture of it this year, but it was really pretty, and it is not decorations.

[trapper]

Same as Jeff and Roxie, my wife is allergic.  Took me a while to get used to it when we first married but she is more important to me than a tree.

[isawlogs]

  I had cut one down a few years ago and the poor tree wasn't fat enough for quality control    Now, they come all tied up and she gets a suprise, I have peace.        
 

[Corley5]

  We've had fake trees for several years.  More convenient and we aren't sweeping up evergreen needles for the next six months    We've been through a couple of the fake ones.  The days following Christmas they can be had for cheap    We bought a $120.00 self lit tree a year ago for 15 bucks.  Ya, it's made in China 
  We always had real trees when I was growing up.  Usually they were wild trees.  Some were Charlie Brown Specials but they were the best when the decorating was done    I remember going on tree hunts via snowmobile, Jeep, Ramcharger, and Massey Ferguson.  Other times Dad would keep an eye out for a potential candidate in the ROW of his plow route and would drop it off when he stopped at home for lunch with the county truck     

[DeepWoods]

Prior to moving, my Wife and I rarely put up a tree at Christmas.  Both of us working for Target for thirty years kinda had Christmas shoved down our throats each year starting in September.  Now that we are retired, and have our pick from 140 + acres, we put up a fresh cut Balsam. 

[Den Socling]

I read recently that you need to beware of those fake trees. The plastic releases toxic chemicals into the air. The older they get, the worse they get. And you know how well the Chinese do with environmental protection.

[D Hagens]

 I don't believe in hacking down a tree for my own personal selfish benefits which last but all of one day a year. I'd rather watch that tree flourish in the forest that I hike in, me thinks that would give me more smiles over the years
 I think the x-mas tree screen saver on the big tv works better