MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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As title, really. It's that time of year when we kill thousands of trees to make a needly mess in the living room for a few weeks, just to throw it away.
Are fake trees better, worse, or is the jury still out...?
Don't have one.
Problem solved.
I'm a big enjoyer of Christmas but trees are a pain in the hoop.
+1 don’t bother. Most real trees are shipped in from Ireland or Russia
I found a local grower, so buying a real one, that's grown nearby.
Can't beat a real tree!
I've got a fake one with lights already on it. Must be over 10 years old now and I'm not getting rid of it any time soon. Thats got to be better than cutting down real trees??
Fight back against tradition and sack it off.
There are schemes where you essentially rent a tree each year. In my head you have the same tree each year. Will it keep growing or just grow as big as it can for the size of the pot? After Christmas the tree then goes back and lives in the pot all year until next year. Not looked into it and know nothing about it but I would imagine that is the most environmentally friendly way of having a tree 🤷♂️
By one in a pot, water it and plant out in Jan, either in the garden or a bit of guerilla forestry out and about
3 successful transplants in three years
Locally grown down the road
We have a Christmas stepladder!
An old, condemned wooden stepladder that we cover in Holly, pine cones and mistletoe. With a few tea lights in jam jars it looks great, is plastic free and is reused every year.
For one of our libraries I made a tree out of an old pallet. That looked pretty cool as well.
Most real trees are shipped in from Ireland or Russia
Whilst this maybe true I cycle through/past hundreds and hundreds of acres of xmas trees here in Scotland. I didn't really clock it until I moved back but they are just a crop, in fields of bazzillions of the buggers, densely planted, all within a few inches of the same height of each other. Right next to fields of barley and oats. If you'd gone past a month or two ago you'd have clocked in one field them all pre labelled before felling with the shop they are going to - Lidl right next to Aldi next to M&S and Waitrose. I can't tell the difference in quality. But I bet there is a difference in final retail price.
So....IF you could sort out the single use plastic wrapping, and IF you grow them close to where they are going to get vagazzled, and IF you either buried them to contain the carbon or burnt them like any other timber grown for fuel I guess you are just down to the transport impact.
But who am I kidding - the grinches probably have it right that they are a bit crap in a climate change way. I think. Maybe. Don't really know.
Fight back against tradition and sack it off.
Mine's a pagan winter solstice tree. I don't think it know it, I don't think the in-laws know it and I'm pretty sure baby Jesus doesn't know it but in my head it looks betterer for it.
There are loads of locally grown trees around here - either from thinning or from specialist Xmas tree plantations. We've been about 50:50 on real Vs synthetic over the years as I really can't make up my mind on what is "best" - environmentally, cost etc. We've tried potted trees to then plant but they've never taken. Given the temperatures and ground conditions in January, I'm not surprised.
Buy a plastic one and leave it in the loft. That's what I do 🙂
I'm not sure there can be a definite answer really. It will depend on how long you'd keep the plastic tree for, how the factory its made in operates, how many miles you'd drive to collect the real tree, where its grown, what the farming practices are (normally buggers for soil erosion), whether you'll burn it on January 3rd, etc.
My gut instinct is that if you're keeping the plastic tree for, say, a decade, vs buying a real tree of questionable provenance, the former might be better.
I remember reading somewhere that it takes 7 or 8 years before a plastic one becomes better than a real one. (with lots of assumptions). Probably the best way is to plant a tree and keep the roots on it when you bring it inside. Take it back into the garden to continue to grow. When its too big to bring in, cut it down and burn it on your STW approved stove - you do have a stove don't you?
I have a plastic tree in its 10th year, and a pallet built tree from a design in another page here for outside.
#edit# the best time for transplanting trees is in the winter when they are at their most dormant.
Top of the nearest hill is common land, heathland which is being overtaken by conifers. The National Trust hold "Cut your own Christmas Tree" days, where you ramble about, find one you like, cut it down, then chuck them a few quid for bagging it up and landrover-ing it back to the car park.
We save the plastic mesh bagging and the landrover footprint by riding up with the kiddie wagon out of hours, finding a nice table-top sized one and riding home with it.
Wild trees are pretty scrappy and "artisanal" but that's part of the fun. Thanks for the reminder to go hunting for this year's!
By one in a pot, water it and plant out in Jan, either in the garden or a bit of guerilla forestry out and about
3 successful transplants in three years
Locally grown down the road
This. Buy one in a pot, use it then release it back into the wild somewhere suitable.
I've got two in my garden 🎄🎄
Our old artificial tree was bought in 1997 and remained in use until last year when senior management decreed it was time for a new one. In that time we had maybe 5 real trees over the years, depending on how flush we were in early December (generally not very). We still have the old tree in the loft.
According to the telly this morning (so it must be true) after 4.7 years of use an artificial tree is better for the environment (?)
Tree rental has the highest carbon credentials (again according to the telly)
We cut a branch from something in the garden that needs cutting anyway. Usually from the yew tree, although we had holly last year. Has the bonus of being flat and wide so it sits in the room better.
Given the temperatures and ground conditions in January, I’m not surprised.
Other than leaving it outside frost free to re adjust to the temperature change and to go back in to hibernation after being indoors January is tree planting season to maximize success
Our fake 6 foot pine purchased for Christmas 2004 is still going strong.
My 9 year old eco-warrior son has been traumatised by the obliteration of the forests of NE Scotland by Storm Arwen. There's no way he would sanction the purchasing of a real tree.
Second hand faker still in loft hopefully staying there PITA in a small room #grinch,
This. Buy one in a pot, use it then release it back into the wild somewhere suitable.
Was on kinder plateau a couple of years ago found an xmas tree planted and decorated was that one of yours?
How is this even a question… buy a tree in a pot, next year you have a slightly bigger one at no extra cost! (At some point you’ll probably need to budget for a bigger pot, admittedly 😀)
We always go out and find a couple of wind-fallen branches off any tree, stick them in an old chimney pot and cover with fairy lights and loads of jangly jingly glittery things that the other half squirrels away in the loft.
It looks great.
Branches then go back out in the wilderness after the crushing anti-climax that is this time of year. 👍
We have a Christmas stepladder!
An old, condemned wooden stepladder that we cover in Holly, pine cones and mistletoe. With a few tea lights in jam jars it looks great, is plastic free and is reused every year.
For one of our libraries I made a tree out of an old pallet. That looked pretty cool as well.
God damn it I have just launched a knackered wooden one.
Hmm... Christmas dumpy level tripod...
another idea, explained through the medium of a beautifully schmaltzy song
My 9 year old eco-warrior son has been traumatised by the obliteration of the forests of NE Scotland by Storm Arwen. There’s no way he would sanction the purchasing of a real tree.
Well I know where there are quite a few lying around, waiting to be tidied up...
My 9 year old eco-warrior son has been traumatised by the obliteration of the forests of NE Scotland by Storm Arwen. There’s no way he would sanction the purchasing of a real tree.
I'm sure when you relate the issues around monoculture forestry he'll be quite keen to repurpose them
Was on kinder plateau a couple of years ago found an xmas tree planted and decorated was that one of yours?
Not guilty! 🤣🤣
How is this even a question… buy a tree in a pot,
It's quite terrifying how few people suggested this as an option.
We've managed 16 Christmases with a total of 2 trees.
+1 don’t bother. Most real trees are shipped in from Ireland or Russia
Source?
We are surrounded by Christmas tree farms here, and you can see dozens of trucks and tree packers all round the lanes here.
We have a tree that was 'rescued' from under powerlines 11 years ago and has lived in a pot. This year is the last year, it is bursting out and so for once we have ordered a tree from the farm 1.5 miles up the road. We will though find another and grow it on.
How about the credentials of a cut tree which is then stripped and the burnable bits burned in a stove, thereby heating the house?
My wife and I have been together 25 years. We still have our first fake tree we bought for £15 in Woolworths in the late 90’a. However it’s been relegated to the dining room as it was a bit small for our new house which has a big lounge with a bay window.
I used to sell fake and real trees and I was shocked to see how much big fake trees are now (£200 plus for 7ft easily) so got a 2nd hand one which is like new off eBay for £18 - and it’s one of the ones I used to sell BITD for £150! Looks amazing too.
I reckon the first tree will last probably 40 years easily, can’t see it not “working” for a very long time!!
Some people do buy new fake trees quite often, especially as new trends come in - ones I saw when selling them were black trees one year, thin trees another year, remember when the fibre optic ones came in and they flew off the shelves (despite being very badly made), I’m sure white trees were all the rage one year and those spindly white twig ones too.
Source?
We are surrounded by Christmas tree farms here, and you can see dozens of trucks and tree packers all round the lanes here.
I used to work for one of the biggest tree retailers and all ours came from Scotland or Ireland. Simply not worth shipping them from further afield as there’s not a lot of margin in them for their size and weight.
We have 2 up - a fake one that's gotta be about 10 years old and a real one from the local grower. Come January, for a small donation, the local scouts collect them all up and they get turned into garden mulch (the trees, not the scouts).
Real, because I'm surrounded by them.
This year's are forest track edge trees that are due to be flailed in 2 weeks as part of our work to maintain woodland fringe habitat. Lodgepole Pine, which hangs on to it's needles very well.
Other years it's been something from the top of full grown stuff we've been harvesting. Do have to drop about a lorry worth of timber to get half a dozen good looking trees this way.
So far my preference is for the stepladder.
My wife and I have been together 25 years. We still have our first fake tree we bought for £15 in Woolworths in the late 90’a. However it’s been relegated to the dining room as it was a bit small for our new house which has a big lounge with a bay window.
I used to sell fake and real trees and I was shocked to see how much big fake trees are now (£200 plus for 7ft easily) so got a 2nd hand one which is like new off eBay for £18 – and it’s one of the ones I used to sell BITD for £150! Looks amazing too.
We still use our Woolworths tree from the 90's too, also relegated in the new house. The main tree was given to us by the mil when we moved (an eye wateringly expensive fake tree) they'll continue to be used until we snuff it and I'll leave them to the kids 😀
leaving it outside frost free
Yeah. Quite.
My 9 year old eco-warrior son has been traumatised by the obliteration of the forests of NE Scotland by Storm Arwen. There’s no way he would sanction the purchasing of a real tree.
Methinks your son needs to better understand the role that growing trees play in the carbon cycle.
after 4.7 years of use an artificial tree is better for the environment
Sorry, maths isn't my strong point: how do you use a Christmas tree for .7 of a year?
Never mind that, how do you use a Christmas tree for 1.0 of a year?
I’m a big enjoyer of Christmas but trees are a pain in the hoop.
You are an angel and I claim my £5
I absolutely refuse to let the Mrs get a fake one. Horrible things.
I planted 20 last December just after my son was born so hopefully in a few years we will be able to go out and choose one for ourselves.
They still look pretty crap at the moment though. Didn't help that rabbits had all the tops before I could fence it off.
All the real ones around here get recycled, most get eaten by the local Alpacas, council recycles the rest. We have an artificial one, mainly because it's paid for and easy to put up, lights are already on it, my job done.