Want to see why Trees for Troops is such a cool program? Watch the slide show here

OK, another rumor to dispel:

A few days ago, newspaper articles talked about a new “study” done by some allergy doctors that showed having a farm-grown Christmas Tree raised levels of mold spores in a home. I put the word study in quotes because legitimate scientists would not consider what they had done a study. Recently, we received a report you can see here from 6 scientists calling their data “not supported by sound science due to shortcomings in the experimental design.” This is yet another example of how the news media doesn’t do enough homework before putting articles out.

Here’s another good (and common) question and answer about how to care for a fresh Christmas Tree.

From: O.A.
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007
To: info@realchristmastrees.org
Subject: Tree care - additives to water or not?

Hi-- I'm writing because I can't find a definitive answer to my question. I'd like to know if additives (ie. preservatives) to the water for Christmas trees are helpful and/or necessary? A well-respected garden store in my town even told me to make a scrape in the trunk of the tree (that would be in the water) with a steak knife, saying that would help with the water intake. I find divided information and I thought I'd ask here, being your are, after all, the National Christmas Tree Association. In your tree care info, you don't even remark about this so does that mean the NCTA doesn't advocate additives/preservatives? (The comment about not drilling a hole in the trunk was noted also). Any help would be appreciated!

2007 Season
12/03/07 - Weirdos, Tapering & Sparsity
11/29/07 - Water, Water & 73 Years
11/26/07 - Pricing, Trees for Troops
11/23/07 - Prices, Flocking, Ideas?, Cedar
11/21/07 - More Fake Tree Nonsense!
11/08/07 - Fake Tree Nonsense!
10/23/07 - New for 2007 & Beyond

2006 Season
12/19/06 - Smells, Types and CBS Morning Show
12/15/06 - T4T Thank You; Questions!
12/12/06 - Smells, Sprays, Trimming
12/08/06 - Trees 4 Troops Update
12/06/06 - Watering; Cutting the Top
12/02/06 - Trees 4 Troops Update
12/01/06 - Trees 4 Troops Underway
11/25/06 - Split Tree Trunk
11/22/06 - A Living Tree
11/18/06 - No Fakes; Big Tree Stands
11/10/06 - Back to a Real Tree
11/07/06 - Narrow Trees for Condos
10/31/06 - Some Stories...
10/19/06 - The "Holiday Tree"?
10/06/06 - A Year's Worth of Work

2005 Season

3/18/06 - Spring Work; Starting a Farm
12/30 - Christmas Tree Fires #%?!
12/23 - Christmas Funnies
12/21 - Bird Flu Vaccine
12/18 - Contest Entry
12/16 - Cats, Shearing & Helicopters
12/15 - Don't Be A Fake
12/14 - Water Level; Politics
12/13 - Smelly Tree; Mail Order
12/12 - Interesting Questions
12/09 - Watering; Longevity
12/06 - Allergies
12/03 - Trees for Troops
12/01 - Hot Water for Trees?
11/30 - Colorants
11/29 - More Pets; Trees for Troops
11/28 - Pets & Trees
11/27 - Flocking
11/26 - First Blog Entry
  When to Buy a Real Tree
  Real Tree Care
  White House Tree; Grand Champions

First, scraping the trunk does NOT help with water uptake. I wish they hadn't told you that. In fact, if you cut off pieces of the bark and into the cambium layer, it can inhibit the tree's ability to absorb water. Think of the tree as just a bigger version of fresh flowers in a vase. Before placing flowers in a vase, you snip off the bottom with a pair of scissors. With the tree, you cut about a 1/4 inch off the trunk...and for the same reason, it opens up the plant tissue which absorbs water molecules. The whole system works much like a siphon. As water molecules evaporate out of the foliage, water molecules and other compounds are moved up through the cambium layer. That is the softer plant tissue just below the bark. Not much water is moved up and down in the center of the center stem / trunk where the denser woody mass is located. What stops a siphon system is air. After a period of time, typically 4-6 hours, air molecules enter the cambium layer when the cut surface is exposed to air. When you make a fresh cut, you are removing the air and "re-priming" the plant's system to siphon water again.

Does that make sense?

Second, believe or not, there have been many controlled studies conducted by plant pathologists over the years measuring various water additives' affect on water uptake and needle retention. Nothing has ever been shown to improve water uptake consistently across all species better than plain tap water.

I'll tell you a quick anecdote. After my first season of working for NCTA, I was talking with a grizzled old tree farmer about all the concoctions people asked about putting in their tree's water. He got a thoughtful look on his face and said, "You know, I don't get it. That tree spends 8 years out in my field drinking nothing but rain water, and people get it in their home and think it suddenly needs a 7 Up. I never gave it a 7 UP once."

Glad to help...that’s what we’re here for.