Save Your Xmas Tree! Follow These Four Tips So You Won’t Kill It

National Christmas Tree Day was officially Dec 8th.  A day, in theory, where you should make a plan to get your Christmas tree and set it up and decorate it.  How many of you have a real tree?  Is it decorated? For my family when I was a kid, it was quite an effort to keep your real tree healthy for the holidays.  How much water does it need? Where should you put it? It can be tough.  So here are four things that will kill your tree, so avoid doing these things and your real tree should be fine through Christmas.

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Forget To Cut An Inch Or Two Off Trunk Before Set Up

A fresh cut opens the tree's pores, so it can soak up more water.  If you don't do it, they'll be blocked by sap, and the tree won't last long.  It takes less than three hours for dried sap to block the pores again once its cut. Take time to make sure this is done, and you should be in good shape.

Planting It In Dirt

Most of us know that your real tree will need to be in water, but your kids may ask why that is.  I mean, they grow from the ground and the dirt, right? Again, you want to keep it as healthy as it can for as long as it can.  It goes back to the pores in the tree again.  Dirt will clog in.

Don't Place It Too Close To Heat Source

Heaters and radiators can dry it out fast, and then it's a fire hazard.  The best place for a tree is near a door or window, where it might get some fresh air once in a while.  I grant you that this may not be an option depending on the layout of your home, but try anyway.

Don't Forget To Water It

As a general rule, most Christmas trees soak up 1 quart of H2O a day, for every inch of diameter the trunk is.  If it helps, if the trunk is 4 inches long, it is a gallon every day.

Hope those tips work for you if you get a real tree and it should be healthy throughout the holiday season.  Merry Christmas!