How to care for your Christmas Tree

Christmas Tree Guide

Up here in Ohio it's starting to freeze. Matter of fact, it feels like it's freezing in my house right now. You know what that means. It's almost Christmas time! Many of you will decorate with a nice big beautiful Christmas Tree. So for those of you that prefer live trees, this is a short guide I put together to help you decide which one is best, how to get it home, and how to keep it green all winter long.

A – Obviously you're going to need to clear a space for it. So do that first. Tip: don't ever put a real tree near a source of heat. Especially a fireplace. You'd be surprised how many people think it's preferable and lose their home because of it.

B – Getting a healthy tree could make all the difference in how good it's going to look. So when you're out shopping for your Christmas tree, follow these guidelines for picking the right one:

• Make sure you measured right and you buy the right size. This may sound redundant but if you get it home and have to cut the lower branches off or hack the top off, it might look a little... diseased.

• Look for signs of unhealthiness in the tree. If it's got a lot of brown on it, try shaking it a bit or dropping it about one foot onto the stump and knock all of the dead needles off. This will also keep the needles from falling off at home and making a mess. Many tree farms have a “shaker” that does this for you, if you'd like. Don't be too concerned about a tree looking bare on the inside, this is normal.

Putting your tree in its stand

A When you choose your tree and get it home, the first thing you're going to want to do is cut about an inch off of the trunk. That will give you a nice fresh piece of wood that will take up water better as it's not dried out and dirty. If you don't have a saw available, you may want to ask the tree service where you bought it to do this for you. Do not cut it into a V or at an angle, this does not actually help the tree get more water, and it will also prevent you from getting it in the stand level. It is also untrue that drilling a hole in the base helps it take up water. Please avoid these wives-tales.

When putting the tree into the stand, there are a few things that you should do that you've probably never heard.

• Try to use the correct size of stand if possible. The better suited it is for your tree, the better the tree will fit, stay healthy, and stay green. A big mistake commonly made is scraping the bark off to make it fit in a stand that's too small. This is obviously not going to help the tree stay alive. Quite the opposite, actually. The outer layers of a trees bark are the most productive at water uptake. So they need to stay intact.

• Any fresh cut tree will still be taking up water after it has has been cut down. The common formula is each tree will take up about one liter of water a day per inch of trunk diameter. Keeping it watered is more important than you might think. If you let it run completely out of water, it could instantly change the amount of water the tree will actually take up. So keeping enough in the stand at all times is a must. Always use COLD water, and don't bother using chemicals. It's more hazardous than it's worth.

I will be making another post this week that will give you necessary information on how to make sure the tree is safe enough to keep in the house. 

Pine Needle Scale

Pine needle scale is a very common pest found in the US. It affects mostly Scotch and Mugo pines, but it may also attack firs, red and Austrian pines, and spruce trees. When looking at a mugo infected with scale, it looks like it has a light layer of snow on the needles. When you look closer, however, you'll see that the white specks on the shrub are actually shells, casing the scale inside.

Source: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/hortanswers/detailproblem.cfm?PathogenID=74

The scale starts off its life being hatched out of the mothers old shell around mid May. The first stage of their lives, they are flat nymphs that are known as crawlers. After hatching, they move to a suitable part of the same tree to hunker down and make their own shell. Some or them may fall off the tree or be taken by wind to another tree, which is usually how the infection spreads.  After finding a needle to call home, they create their own shell and molt inside of it, allowing them to grow for up to three weeks. At this point, the males emerge from their shell as a winged adult, and the females, after mating, lay as much as 40 eggs under their shell. Depending on where you live, they work two hatching seasons into a year. One in mid-May and one in late July. This can make containment difficult.

This picture shows the hard white shells of the adult scale, as well as the new-born nymphs, which apear here as small red dots. Source: http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/pine_needle_scale_crawlers_should_be_hatching/

As far as treating scale goes, most effective controls have been systemic insecticides. They should be sprayed in June and in August, right as the newborn nymphs are trying to settle in, before creating their shells. Also effective horticultural oil sprays. Dormant oil sprays have proven for the most part ineffective. If you plan on trying these methods, contact your local pesticide dealer and ask for more information.