By Clint Thompson
Christmas trees were picked early this year at some farms across the Southeast. That means homeowners have extra time to take care of their trees, which need special attention once they have been plucked from the farm.
Steve Mannhard, with Fish River Farms in Baldwin County, Alabama, discussed Christmas tree management after advising a fellow homeowner.
“If you do get it early, you need to keep it cool and put it in a bucket of water and then only put it up when you’re really ready for it,” Mannhard said. “If it stays out of the sun and the wind and the heat; that’s what dries those trees out. I tell them to put it in the cold garage and leave it there until they’re really ready to take it inside. It’s the inside heat in the house that dries out those trees; the heat blowing on those pores in the needles. It’s like a hair dryer, and that’s what dries the trees out.”
Mannhard emphasized the importance of homeowners keeping tabs on their trees’ water levels once they are brought in the house.
“They let the trees suck up a lot of water and then these big 8 to 10-foot cypress trees, they’ll go through a couple of gallons in a day, at least, in the first few days. They just suck water up like crazy,” Mannhard said. “You have to check it all the time. You have to put a note on the refrigerator to check the water. Once the water goes below the bottom of the trunk, then it dries out. Then it won’t take the water up. If they do put more water in there, it won’t take it up.
“Those are the mistakes that people make when they get a fresh tree.”