The Greenville Pioneer 2022, March 11th

By Bob Beyfuss

For Capital Region Independent Media

Just when I was thinking the price inflation we are all experiencing was beginning to wane, at least for some items, I was shocked to see that my son-in-law just paid $187 for a Christmas tree!

He told me this was about double the price he paid last year for a 7-foot-tall Fraser fir. It is a very nice tree, for sure, but prices like that might cause many people to forego the custom in lieu of paying bills or buying presents.

If you are looking to save money by buying a nice artificial tree, I saw a pre-decorated tree in another big box store, on sale, for $500. Artificial trees don’t have the characteristic “piney” fragrance that so many of us enjoy, but you can also buy sprays that contain the same terpenes and spray the plastic needles for that lovely scent so many of us associate with Christmas.

These terpenes are hydrocarbons, much like petroleum, that are being investigated as potential renewable replacements for petroleum-based plastics and even fuels. Evergreen trees don’t produce significant quantities of them, however, but it may be possible to bio-engineer microbes that could be cultured in large quantities. 

Terpenes also act as defensive chemicals for the tree. They repel some insects and help the tree resist fungal pathogens, as well. I recently read that deer ticks do not survive well over the winter when the trees around them are fir trees. The shed fir needles are apparently toxic to the ticks. Perhaps laying evergreen boughs on your property will reduce your local deer tick populations!  

Please don’t forego buying a live tree for ecological reasons. Christmas trees are a farmed crop, which are raised specifically to be cut and enjoyed. It takes eight years or more to grow a 6- or 7-foot-tall tree from a transplant. During that time the tree provides ecological benefits such as sequestering carbon, hiding small birds and other animals from predators, and preserving farmland.

Most families I know of have a pretty firm and traditional date for putting up the tree each year. My kids and practically everyone else I know in Florida put up their trees almost immediately after Thanksgiving.

Florida residents, in general, seem like they cannot wait for the winter season to arrive. Maybe it is because they really don’t have winter weather or anything to physically remind them that it is winter. Some municipalities, like Madeira Beach, had their holiday street lights up by the end of October.

When I was a kid growing up in Jersey City, we waited until the week before Christmas to buy our tree and we never decorated it until Christmas Eve. As I recall, the trees we usually bought were already dried-out white spruce, which means they were fire hazards, pretty much from the minute we put them up until they came down right after New Year’s.

In retrospect, it is amazing that some of us did not burn our houses in those days. Christmas tree lights were made from really big bulbs that heated up to several hundred degrees and the famous “bubbler” lights did not begin to bubble until they got really hot. Our Lionel electric trains shot out huge sparks every time they were derailed by hitting a big glob of honest to goodness lead tinsel. (If you remember lead tinsel, you are approaching or have achieved senior citizen status). In fact, these old toy trains and their transformers sparked almost constantly.

Most of the trees sold today are usually long-lasting firs or pines and even the spruce trees that are harvested are much fresher.

Freshly harvested trees will stay fresh for several weeks if water is still being absorbed by the cut end of the tree. Make a fresh cut about 3 inches above the base of the tree when you get it home and put it in water immediately. Keep the reservoir full of water and the tree will be fine. 

If you budget does not allow for a cut Christmas tree this year, you might consider buying a Norfolk Island pine, which doubles as a nice, indoor houseplant you can enjoy all year long. Right now, local garden centers are offering all sorts of beautiful and fragrant holiday wreaths and greens.

A beautiful poinsettia will hold its colorful bracts for many weeks also, as long as it is not over-watered or subjected to a serious draft of either cold or  hot air. I was pleasantly surprised to see poinsettias in 6-inch pots for sale for less than $8 at a big box store, but if you can afford it, please shop for your holiday gift plants at a local garden center!