The Lifecycle of a Christmas Tree

Since the first doors of advent calendars have been opened, homeowners have started making the mad dash to garden centres and farms to pick up their annual Christmas tree. Although your experience of Christmas trees, likely, consists of hanging tinsel and baubles from it and placing presents under it, the tree itself is coming towards the end of a journey that has spanned over a decade. In this blog post, Treesaw explains how these trees end up in your living room by detailing the entire lifecycle of a Christmas tree.

Planting

The lifecycle of a Christmas tree always begins with planting. Homeowners can plant a new tree each year to ensure they have a steady stream of ripe trees each year, and there is good reason behind this. Christmas trees can take between 6-10 years to grow to harvest, so planting in advance is advised if you want your own breed of tree for each year. The best time to plant a Christmas tree is in the early spring, and this is a time that sees over 85 million trees planted worldwide, each year. There is not a specific type of tree labelled ‘Christmas tree’, however. Homeowners have the choice of selecting from either an evergreen fir, a spruce or a pine. Although these types of trees may look different, the lifecycle of a Christmas tree is exactly the same no matter which type you select.

To aid the growth and development of each tree, a plant should be made on level land, consisting of nutrient rich, loamy soil to allow the trees to flourish. The trees should also be protected from high winds, as strong, consistent gusts can cause their alignment to be thrown off, leaving you with a wonky tree.

Harvesting

Once the trees have stopped growing, it is finally time to chop them down and ship them off. Each tree can measure between 1.5 to 2.5 meters, with the tallest examples obviously going for the biggest bucks. Amazingly, the tallest Christmas tree ever reached 67 meters (224 feet) and was erected and decorated at Northgate Shopping Center, Seattle, Washington in 1950. Christmas trees have become a worldwide sensation, with over 100 million trees being sold across North America and Europe each year.

Decorations

As mentioned previously, the lifecycle of a Christmas tree typically ends at the stage of decoration, although for most homeowners, this is just the beginning. People have been decorating Christmas trees for centuries, with 16th century German Christians bringing these trees into their home come Christmas time. There have been many different decorating styles and trends over the years, with homeowners choosing everything from tinsel and baubles to lit candles and fruit to brighten up their trees. It is important to water your tree with a litre of water a day to prevent your tree from shedding its needles, and to keep it in good health for the Feast of Epiphany on January 6th (the traditional date for taking a Christmas tree down).

The lifecycle of a Christmas tree is both intricate and elongated, spanning a far greater time frame than the few days we have them up for at Christmas. Although millions of trees are harvested each year, here at Treesaw, cutting down trees is a last resort, and our team of expert team of tree surgeons do their best to preserve the health and well-being of every tree. To find out more about all of our products and services, contact Treesaw today by calling us today on 0113 239 1271.