I compost them (go figure). And use the pine needles as mulch around my acid-loving plants, although I realize that does little to drive down the pH.

I want to make a point about the real/artificial tree debate. It seems to me the environmentally friendly thing to do would be to get a real tree and dispose of it responsibly. Artificial trees are mainly made of petroleum products. Real xmas trees are farmed for consumption much like corn. It's not like they're shipping them from the Brazilian rainforest. That's my 2 cents anyway.

Greenwood85 - totally agree about the artificial tree thing. I wouldn't even have the one I have if I hadn't rescued it. Someone was moving and was going to toss it - where it would've ended up in a landfill. IMO - Such a disposable society we have... *sigh* Real or artificial - we throw too much away, hence: recycling/composting rules around here.

As for the tree I just staked up : already the birds have found it. Fun to watch! The big snowstorm has started and I'm staying put for the next couple days! :-)
Kris

Don't have one to recycle this year but in the past I have used the branches for a sort of mulch or to cover muddy areas to make walking on the area easier and I have used whole trees as part of brush piles for wildlife, filling gullies and for erosion control.

I also get a good feeling - don't think it's actually superiority though - when I take my tree apart and store it in the basement.

I threw our 13 footer off the veranda thinking I'd go through the yearly ritual of stripping it and using the boughs for the gardens and placing the trunk on the forest floor where it was meant to be anyways.

BUT, during the night an ice storm came and the thing has been stuck in the middle of the lawn since then...

kid - what a great way to use the tree. We use an artificial one that a friend gave us. I'd love to have a real tree every year, I think they smell great and look so nice too. Hubby won't hear of it though. Real tree people are so lucky!

Val

Not only are we lucky, but we are contributing to the health of the environment. When I buy a fresh, oxygen producing, tree, I know that a new tree will be planted next spring in its spot and I know I have supported a tree farmer. Petroleum trees and stolen trees don't contribute the way your live fir will.

Tiffy,
Many years ago, I launched our tree out the front door, thinking I'd take care of it "tomorrow". It snowed, and the wind blew a great snow drift over the poor tree. Well, DH was in the military, and he got orders. When we moved at the end of Feb. that year, the tree was still frozen in the ice and snow. I had to ask the downstairs neighbor to take care of it for us when it thawed.

Never launched a tree off the porch again.

I toss mine in the backyard until spring. In spring I put it through the chipper just like all the fallen branches that we have on the grass area. Half of our 10 acres is forest so we have a lot of fallen branches to chip. Good thing the chipper will take branches up to 6" diameter.

As you know, here in Ohio we have having a 'snow event' which began yesterday and will continue until the wee hours tonight. I have almost 10" of event right now and it's still coming down hard. Here's how the 'bird feeder habitat tree' is faring.
Kris
{{gwi:259834}}

Kris:
wonderful pic. Could use it as a Christmas card (2009 in some 11 mths plus). Thanks for posting it.
Otis.

It goes outside the front door and is collected by the city council in the fortnightly cardboard and garden collection of stuff that residents can't/won't compost. Luckily this year's collection fell on Jan 6th, perfect timing for 12th night. In the past I have trimmed the branches back to stumps and used the trunk as a bean/sweet pea support. The branches were used as mulch. No snow here to hide our disposal problems under.

Greenbean,

I was expecting to trim some branches off that spruce today, but basketball (my DD got her first basket - YAY!!), shopping, and housework got my attention.

I resolved to do it tomorrow but we have a snowstorm moving in so I am about to experience your snowbank phenomenon. :O)

Yikes! Kris - please please don't send any of you "snow event" to Illinois. I'm trying to be optimistic that Spring is almost here...yeah...right.

Val

I've collected trees from our neighbors and was planning to turn them into mulch. Then somebody mentioned they might be sprayed with some sort of flame retardant. Anybody know about this? I'd hate to put some weird chemicals into my soil.

Also, I love the idea of turning the trunks into vine supports!

Val...hey, I think you have that backwards. Seems to me MY Ohio snow came from the WEST and that would be....Illinois! ;-)
Kris

Well...it just waved at us and kept going. It must have wanted to be Ohio snow REAL bad :-]

I don't mind sharing!

Val

Up our way the lake freezes over, the ice-fishermen come out of their huts and if they want to head to shore, and the weather has closed in, they just follow the tree-line of old Christmas Trees laid about 50 feet apart.

Since the huts are required by law to be off the ice by March 15, the trees are taken out at the same time.
Then they are collected by the town and given to us all later in summer as mulch.

Kris - did you send some of that snow back here?! I SAID please, didn't I? :-)

Val

OK, I can't see my tree on the front lawn anymore. Looks like a beached whale...

ACK! Tiffy - keep yours up there please. I said please to Kris but she sent some back to us. White is not my favorite color. Hey - congrats to the daughter! Basketball Jones...I've got a basketball jones.....oops! probably not appropriate :-)

Val

Sorry, that snow was already in the mail....;-)
Kris
P.S. But le neige - c'est tres belle, n'est pas?

No...no...it's not beautiful. I'm trying to think SPRING! Greens, yellows, purples, pinks, oranges...white - NO!

Val

I'm thinking about taking my Christmas tree down tomorrow, and putting the ornaments away. Is it 12th Night yet?

I haven't done anything yet with my lovely artificial tree, it's still decorated and giving me much pleasure. While I try not to support the "plastics" industry (really dislike that stuff) I have allergies to something to do with real trees, probably molds, so have had an artificial one for 37 years. The first one lasted about 35 years and we gave it to the Thrift shop so someone is probably still using it. Not too disposable after all.

I work at a banquet hall that has a large lake behind it. Every year I take my tree and throw it in the lake. This year it was frozen over so I just tossed it on the ice. I'm assuming it may be used by the birds as a shelter over the winter before it becomes a shelter for the fish next spring.

gratefulgardener, if you ever come up to my lake and throw a tree in it, I'm going to sit on you and rub a snowball in your face. I have a terrible phobia about "matter out of place" when it comes to lakes, and if I ever were to look down and see a Christmas tree while swimming, I would surely have a heart attack.

Just wanted to give you some warning.

annpat, I know just what you mean! Really. Anomalies can be not just confusing but disturbing. I came home once and there was a shiny stone in the middle of my deck. How did it get there? Another time I found a chicken egg in the middle of my lawn. *wha?* And when I was much younger I tried scuba in Lake Erie and in the murky water I was swimming slowly, enjoying looking at the ripples of sand at the bottom and *wang* there was a truck tire! (A tree would have been just as shocking, I'm sure.) The brain is ready for one thing and suddenly - it gets something else. Disorienting to be sure. And while the fish might use both the tire and the tree as fish habitat, to us it just ain't natural! ;-)
Kris

Kris! Finally! Someone who understands! I was once sitting in my kayak on a lake, eating lunch, when a friend of mine said, "Don't look now, but underneath you is your worst nightmare." I almost capsized when I realized I was sitting above not one, but two car tires.

I realize the thread is about Christmas tree but since the several last posts are about lakes or what NOT to throw into a lake, Can I ask a small question. (Not trying to alienate anybody here).
Is it OK to throw bread in the lake??? As fish food I mean.

Otis

Otis - it is NOT okay to throw bread into the lake for fish food. Stale bread is to be reserved for going to the river and feeding the ducks :-)

Val

Otis, Otis, Otis.
Are you deliberately trying to make everyone sick?
Of course, fish will go after what they have no idea is a soggy, disgusting meld of wheat and water, but have you noticed that the minute they mouth it, they spit it right out?

Well, I have.

Sorry, I thought I'd ask, before throwing it into the lake making it all soggy and what not.

Otis.

Alright! Who sent Illinois the snow THIS time?! Not funny.

Val

Personally I wouldn't throw tires into a lake but a tree is natural and will eventually break down. I was throwing the trees into one area of the lake and I can tell you that that is where the bass are. Yet you couldn't see any trees (no scuba diving though).

Otis, you should save your bread for your compost pile. It makes excellent food for the worms.

Put it back it's box until next year. $5 at a thrift store.

Haha, OK who hates soggy bread around here...seems I remember someone did...

Our tree is planted in the back yard just like kiddo's. I thought we were the only ones crazy enough but I should have known someone here would have come up with the same idea!

That's a really great idea, I'll be doing that next year. I'm sending my artificial tree to goodwill when I get home next week.

Contrary to popular belief artificial trees are not the "green" way to go, fresh cut is as alreay mentioned tree farms put lots of O2 in the air and are replanted. Oil trees are bad for landfills.

I dont fish much anymore, but when i did... getting my hooked snaggen on a tree in the lake was probably not as rewarding as it was for the person who put it their. If you plan on putting it in a lake please make sure its plenty far off shore. Sorry to get off subject. As for my tree unfortunatley we now for the first time have a fake tree. My wifes cats would spray on the real ones every time it went near them. And believe me, the day after christmas that tree was thrown out in the snow and burned...cats! They dont seem to spray the fake one.

I don't usually make resolutions, but after reading all the good posts in this thread, I've made up my mind.

I want it ALL!

I no longer want to enjoy the holidays looking at a gaily decorated petroleum-based interpretation of a fir tree. I want the live green tree with the O2 mitigation. I want winter interest and shelter for the birds. So my Christmas gift/resolution to myself will be - a balled tree. Yeah, it'll cost a few bucks, but for the next 30+ years (I plan on living a loooong time ;-)), imagine how nice the whole place is going to look when they are planted, and how much the wildlife will appreciate them.

Unless someone can suggest a better way to go, here is my plan (I've never had a balled tree before, so save me from myself if I'm off base). I'll buy it in November, tub it on the deck, decorate it there with lights and strings of popcorn and fruit and I (and the critters) can enjoy it for the holidays. Then, after the festivities, drag it over to a pre-dug hole, plant it, and voila!

If I get one small enough I think I could handle it (root balls are heavy!).

At least I have a year to get any kinks out of this plan.

Kris (already thinking about she's gonna do with her next Christmas tree....)

Oui Kris, la neige est très belle!! Might I point out that neige is feminine and therefore must be used with 'la'. There's your French lesson for today. :O)

Here's my favourite pussy willow after one of our snowfalls this year. I like it when it bows down like this.
{{gwi:259835}}

Glad I can blame the last cold snap on the Russians...

Tiffy - Sacre bleu! Moi bad! Right now beaucoup de la neige is making a beeline for us and should give a nice new coat of snow to my rescue Christmas tree.
Kris (unable to figure out how to post accent marks... :-/)
P.S. Your pussy willow looks magnifique!

"Kris (unable to figure out how to post accent marks... :-/) "

To post accented characters, you need to use HTML escape codes. For example, to get é you'd post either é or é (the link has a table of all the HTML escape characters).

Merci, bp.... :-)
Kris (still looking for her La Petite Larousse...)

Mine is planted in a friend's yard too. They were thrilled to have it after fires destroyed their landscape a yr ago. We've decorated a palm tree (same one) for the past few years. This year the toddler was old enough to want a "real" Christmas tree so we caved and bought a 6 ft potted one. We put it in a bucket and on top of his train table. A good tree skirt and you couldn't even tell it was potted.

Fun thread!

Christmas Tree---cut the small branches off of it and piled them in the back yard--the yard is about 8' x 20'---got out the lawnmower and ran them over with a few leaves still hanging around --made a nice top dressing for the pile-- it was 30 degrees and i'm sure the neighbors thought i was nuts--i'm hooked and who cares

Tiffy--I got in trouble in the 4th grade for discovering the term pussy willow and talking about it in class---Sister Hilda!!