Living Christmas Trees Not A Good Idea

by Ron Dieter, Sunnyfield Greenhouse & Gardens

December 13, 1999

When early December rolls around, I usually get several inquiries for potted Christmas trees. The callers are looking for potted or B&B (balled and burlap) evergreens, usually pines or spruces, to use as Christmas trees indoors. The idea is that, after the holidays, the trees can be taken outside and planted in the landscape.

This plan is based on the notion that using a living tree saves our forests and protects wildlife habitat. This seems like a good idea to environmentally conscious citizens, but Mother Nature frowns on the whole scheme.

Living trees need the natural cycles of daily sunlight and darkness and seasonal warmth and cold to survive. In late autumn, trees fall into dormancy, allowing them to survive the winter without injury. When a living tree is brought indoors, the warm temperatures break dormancy and active growth begins. If it survives the dark and dry conditions of the indoors, the tree, no longer dormant, will probably freeze to death when moved back outside to be planted. It's a terrible way to treat a tree.

Folks concerned about the environment can buy and use a fresh cut tree in good conscience. Fresh cut Christmas trees are rarely taken from forests and woodlands. They come to us from farms that grow them specifically to be cut for Christmas. This year farmers planted 56 million seedlings that will be used as Christmas trees seven to ten years from now. These trees are usually grown on land that is better suited for this purpose than for growing grain or soybeans. While they are growing, the trees help counteract possible greenhouse effects, produce oxygen and clean water, and provide a habitat for wildlife.

A fresh cut tree is truly a renewable resource. Most Christmas trees harvested each autumn are recycled in community programs. Since real trees are biodegradable, all are ultimately recycled back into nature, even the ones that are not used in a specific program.

The same cannot be said for artificial trees. Most are manufactured overseas from petroleum and plastics, providing no benefits to the environment. And believe it or not, some artificial trees have come into our country infested with beetles. A recent trade journal reported that some artificial trees were made using a real branch or log for the trunk. Beetles lurking under the bark hitch-hiked a ride to the U.S., where they were found by our inspectors before they escaped into our forests and woodlands.