The secret to having a live Christmas tree staying fresh and keeping its needles is to start fresh and take the steps necessary to keep it that way.
Step 1
Buy a fresh tree. The easiest way to ensure a fresh tree is to go to one of our local tree farms and buy freshly cut. It ensures a fresh tree and supports a local farmer and your community. If that is not possible, then when you buy a tree off of a lot, make sure the needles are soft, not brittle and falling off.
Step 2
Before you place your fresh tree in the tree stand with water, cut an inch off the bottom of the tree’s trunk. The reason you are doing this is to make sure the tree will take up the water in the tree stand. Remember, a pine or fir tree oozes sap to heal wounds, so the tree you just cut at the tree farm and brought home has already sealed the cut at the bottom of the tree’s trunk. Make a fresh cut and have a tree stand that holds a gallon of water.
Step 3
WATER. Live trees need a lot of water every day. For every one inch of the tree’s diameter, it needs one quart of water per day. A typical seven-foot tree will need approximately 3 quarts of water per day. Remember, you can buy funnels with long hoses so that you do not have to crawl under the tree to fill the tree stand with water.