Jeff Ball: The Yardener

Tricks out of Santa's bag to make the tree last

There are a few tricks to making sure your cut Christmas tree does not dry out and begin to drop needles before New Year's Day. The critical step in setting up a cut tree is to first saw about a half an inch off the bottom of the trunk just before setting the tree in its holder. The tree cannot absorb water in the holder if that slice was not taken first.

A common mistake is to cut the slice, set up the tree, put water in the holder and then go for a day or two before checking to see if there is still water in the tree's holder. A tree that has been cut for a few weeks is going to suck in over two gallons of water in the first few hours after cutting the slice and mounting the tree. That is one reason to have a tree stand that will hold at least a gallon of water. On the first day of setting up the tree, check the water level every hour or two. Once the tree quenches that initial thirst, it will use several quarts of water each day that it is in the house.

If you did not cut the slice off the bottom of the trunk or if you have left the tree stand get dry for more than a day, the tree cannot absorb water. No one wants to take a decorated tree out of the stand in order to cut another slice. However, there is an easy way to solve this problem. On the Internet, you can buy a watering device that gives the tree water using an intravenous type system ($8 at www.safechristmas. com). After you drill a hole into the base of the tree, a special nipple is inserted into the hole and then attached to a flexible hose that is connected to a jug of water. Your tree can now drink again.

There are two more steps to making sure your Christmas tree lasts as long as possible. Cut flowers are kept longer when you add a citrus powder to the water; these packets of extender are available in flower shops. You get the same effect if you add a half a can of 7Up or Sprite (not the diet versions) each time you add water to the tree holder.

Most garden centers and home centers sell an antitranspirant product such as WiltPruf. This material is sprayed on evergreen shrubs such as azaleas or rhododendrons to leave a thin wax-like coating over the surface of the leaves, which slows down the transpiration of water over the winter months. The same benefit is accrued when you spray your Christmas tree with an antitranspirant product. Using both these tricks will add a week or more to the time it takes for the needles to begin falling off the tree.

Jeff Ball, a Metro Detroit freelance garden writer, has a yard care Web site at www.yardener.com, and his blog is at http://gardeneryardener.blogspot.com. E-mail address at jeffball@starband.net.