Anybody else buy live trees for X-mas?

[DUMBDOG]

I enjoy a real Christmas tree, but the kids like artificial, so that is what we use. Last year, purchased a new one for fifteen dollars, seven feet tall and with the lights already on it, two pieces to put together, plug it in and you are done. It is a lot easier and better for the planet. It takes a long time for those evergreens to grow. We have one out back and it eighteen years it has grown about ten feet.

 

[Gatorboy]

It is a lot easier and better for the planet. It takes a long time for those evergreens to grow. We have one out back and it eighteen years it has grown about ten feet.

I don't agree. Christmas tree farms replenish the trees that are cut. I think it takes about 5-7 years to get a tree that is ready for sale.

How exactly is this bad for the planet?

 

[tallyho8]

I enjoy a real Christmas tree, but the kids like artificial, so that is what we use. Last year, purchased a new one for fifteen dollars, seven feet tall and with the lights already on it, two pieces to put together, plug it in and you are done. It is a lot easier and better for the planet. It takes a long time for those evergreens to grow. We have one out back and it eighteen years it has grown about ten feet.

I'm not so sure that the plastic trees are better for the environment than real trees. Most Christmas trees are grown on farms and sold as crops just like corn or apples and they are naturally biodegradable.
There is a certain amount of pollution involved in making plastic trees and they are not biodegradable.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

[DUMBDOG]

I realize that they are grown just like any other crop. My point of view is that if the trees are left out there they clean up the air that we breath which is good for the environment. The transportation each year does not help with the use of fuel, etc.

The making of a artificial tree is not good for environment, but we still have the first one that we bought in 1978, this is only the second one that we have purchased. Lets face it, humans on this planet is not good for it and I try to make the smallest footprint that I can.

All that aside, I am a economy minded person and have saved a bundle of money over the years by using the artificial tree over buying one each year.

 

[Gatorboy]

Lets face it, humans on this planet is not good for it and I try to make the smallest footprint that I can.

I don't think humans make a dent into affecting the planet at all.

All that aside, I am a economy minded person and have saved a bundle of money over the years by using the artificial tree over buying one each year.

Well, our family (plus siblings, in-laws, etc.) goes out to the tree farm each year to cut a tree for the tradition and memories it creates each Christmas -- you can't put a price on that.

Every family does what they feel is best -- artificial, real, live, etc. -- and who is to say which is best? Merry Christmas to all!

 

[DUMBDOG]

Merry Christmas to all.

Have a great New Year.

 

[MossRoad]

I enjoy a real Christmas tree, but the kids like artificial, so that is what we use. Last year, purchased a new one for fifteen dollars, seven feet tall and with the lights already on it, two pieces to put together, plug it in and you are done. It is a lot easier and better for the planet. It takes a long time for those evergreens to grow. We have one out back and it eighteen years it has grown about ten feet.

Christmas trees generally take around 7 years from seedling to 7' harvestable trees around here. They take some side mowing or chemical weed spraying each year and manual shaping (trimming) each year. But you can do it year after year after year with little impact on the environment. Artificial trees consume metals, plastics, glues(fumes), etc... I wish someone would do a study to find out how many natural resources are consumed to make an artificial tree and the total environmental impact VS cutting and planting real ones. I'll bet real Christmas trees have a significantly lower environmental impact compared to artificial tress once all things are added up.

We planted 2000 trees around 1990. A thousand were pines and a hundred were firs. Another thousand were mixed hardwoods. The shortest ones are close to 35 feet, so we're averaging 2 feet per year or better.

 

[meledward23]

Well, our family (plus siblings, in-laws, etc.) goes out to the tree farm each year to cut a tree for the tradition and memories it creates each Christmas -- you can't put a price on that.
!

I couldn't agree more. I remember before I was of age 10 (probably 8 or 9) the family going out and selecting a tree while the ground was laden with snow. My memory is bad, but I do remember that one night. Probably one of my strongest "old" Christmas memories.

 

[450EXC]

I have a small Colorado Bluce Spruce grove off the side yard. I was planning on cutting one of the nice ones for Christmas.

My house sits on a sharp curve on a country back road. Some Yahoo fell asleep in his pickup and completly missed the curve, 40 mph through the yard for 200' and plowed into the spruces. Took out my 2 favorites and 3 others, totaled his truck.

His insurance company paid me 2,500.00 $.

I don't know wether to be sad or happy.

 

[MossRoad]

I couldn't agree more. I remember before I was of age 10 (probably 8 or 9) the family going out and selecting a tree while the ground was laden with snow. My memory is bad, but I do remember that one night. Probably one of my strongest "old" Christmas memories.

My parent always had real trees. It was a big deal. We'd all pile into the van and go up to this little old lady's Christmas tree farm and spend time walking through the woods and finding just the right one. Very special time for us kids. We had 11' peaked ceilings in our living room. One wall was brick for the fireplace. One wall was solid bookshelves with a collection a library would envy. The other two walls were floor to ceiling glass. That tree would touch the peak and take up half the room. My dad would put on the lights and then we'd spend hours decorating it with glass and handmade ornaments. We'd finish it off with lots of tinsel, a fire in the fireplace and hot drinks... until my older sisters grew up and moved away. Things started changing. No more evening meals at the dining room table. It was trays in front of the TV. Sunday dinners and afternoon with family were over. All of the traditions and routines that I was used to were slipping away

Then it happened... my folks went out and bought an artificial Christmas tree. That was the last straw. I went out and cut a real one and put it up in my bedroom in protest! I vowed to have a real tree for the rest of my life. That was almost 30 years ago. To this day I can feel the disappointment, anger and fear of almost losing that one Holiday tradition that meant so much to me. No artificial tree will ever be placed in my house as the main Christmas tree unless someone develops a severe allergy to pine sap!

So, on the second Saturday before Christmas every year you will most likely find me, my wife and children out in a tree farm tromping around in the mud (it doesn't snow here anymore) and we pick out just the right tree. I cut it down, we jam it in the van and they get pine branches poking them on the ride home. My daughter video tapes the entire thing and narrates it like the Blair Witch Project. We bring it home, set it up and spend an evening decorating it. They will always have those memories and I hope they continue it with their children, or better yet, they stop by the nursing home, wheel me out to the van and take me with them to get a tree when I'm old and feeble. I would like nothing better.