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Original poster

To find real Christmas trees sad?

98 replies

BlackAldi · 26/12/2023 23:29

Hear me out, I love the look of a real tree but it makes me really sad to see trees that have been chopped down just so they can be a Christmas tree for a couple of weeks. Seeing them out on the roadside for rubbish collection in January also feels really sad and wasteful.

We have a fake tree (I realise there are other environmental issues with that) that is 12 years old and hopefully can last another decade. And also a little potted for tree that we bring in for Christmas then put back in the garden for the next year (so it’s a living tree and no killing/chopping needed).

anyone else feel sad about chopped real trees?

OP posts:
pictoosh · 27/12/2023 00:05

Bear in mind that some people can't realistically manage a real tree...space, mobility issues, transport, disposal, stairs etc.

UncleHerbie · 27/12/2023 00:18

We have a real tree that’s five years old. We love it and enjoy seeing the new growth in the spring. Nothing remotely sad about that. However I now realise you’re talking about cut trees

To find real Christmas trees sad?
MrsFezziwig · 27/12/2023 00:26

In our area you can make a donation to a local charity who then collects and recycles them. I can’t see a downside to this (though if I could I would find a way round it as I love my real Christmas tree).

StBrides · 27/12/2023 00:31

You know you can rent real trees now, right?
They're replanted after Christmas and looked after until the next year when they're available to rent again....and so on.

Original poster
BlackAldi · 27/12/2023 07:23

Thanks all, good to have a mix of perspective and some validation that it’s sad seeing them grown to be cut down! There is a carbon cost to having any Christmas tree. I guess I need to keep our fake one as long as possible and try to keep the potted one alive!

OP posts:
PTSDBarbiegirl · 27/12/2023 07:31

I know what you mean but as pp said its no different to flowers or foliage that's grown as cut displays, Brussel sprouts are grown for consumption too as are fruit and any other crop. As for farming, well that's a whole other topic. Do you care about the Christmas trees on the side of the road because they are discarded so blatantly a bit like the months of planning and stress we go through for one day then discarded along with any shreds of sanity by boxing day?!

BouleBaker · 27/12/2023 07:33

They are literally a crop, just like brussel sprouts or wood grown to be used as loo roll. After Christmas, we strip ours and take the branches to the tip to put into the compost bins and use the wood for campfires.

TeenDivided · 27/12/2023 07:36

Our artificial tree is on its 28th Christmas and still in good shape. I see no reason why it can't reach at least 40.

Newsenmum · 27/12/2023 07:39

Nope! Because real trees are better for the environment and look and smell gorgeous. They grow for ages which is great for the environment and get recycled too (we always get ours recycled). Also I personally don’t like the look of fake trees!

I feel much worse about all the slaughtered turkeys, ugh!

MyDogsPaws · 27/12/2023 07:40

I always have a real tree, if the trees weren’t being grown for Xmas trees they wouldn’t be here at all. This year I found a wrens nest in my tree while I was putting it up so just goes to show that they can be used by wildlife as well.

anothernamechangeagainsndagain · 27/12/2023 07:42

I have artificial, my old one is now 19 years old and at exh's house, my new one has just done its 4th Christmas - it will be back in thrift early January for next year

SD1978 · 27/12/2023 07:42

We burn ours afterwards. Really like the look and smell of a real tree, and happy to 'use' it all.

Londoner89 · 27/12/2023 07:44

YANBU OP, I feel the same. Expecting to see the dead trees dumped by the road any day now 😒

Cattiwampus · 27/12/2023 07:46

It’s a crop. Grow, harvest, use, recycle.
Mine comes from a farm two miles down the road. My decorations are wood, glass, paper, metal and straw and reused over the last 45 years.
I’d rather not have a tree than some plastic, inorganic, unrecycleable pretence.

Alwaysdieting · 27/12/2023 07:47

I hate seeing Christmas trees with no roots I too think cut trees are sad. I have 4 real trees 1 I brought in wilkos 2 years ago,1 I brought after Christmas in Asda it was nearly dead from not being watered they are both in pots either side of my kitchen back door. Ive got a tiny one in a pot in my kitchen and an even smaller one next to it they will both be put in the garden in the spring in pots.
I have an artificial tree that must be about 20 years old and still looks nice and will still look good I hope for at least another 5 Christmases.

Cattiwampus · 27/12/2023 07:49

Most councils and many charities offer a tree recycling service. All those trees ‘dumped by the side of the road’ ( sob, handwringing, wail) are collected, chipped and reused as mulch and whatnot.

ClottedCreamScone · 27/12/2023 07:50

Real trees are far more environmentally friendly than fake trees, so absolve yourself of sadness. You have to use a fake tree for something like 25 years before it is less environmentally damaging to produce than a real tree, and even then it will still go into landfill and leach plastic into the soil for the next 500 years.

Helenahandkart · 27/12/2023 07:50

I love my real tree. It smells of Christmas. A bit of December woodland magic in my sitting room. Every morning when I come downstairs and get a gentle waft of Norway Spruce I feel festive, and it acts as a Proustian window to Christmas past. I buy it from a local plantation as part of a special day out, and when it’s done its service I compost all the little branches and save the trunk for Bonfire Night.
Fake trees, even really good ones, feel like they’re missing something. They’ve got no soul.

AuntMarch · 27/12/2023 07:59

I have an artificial tree because it was given to me when someone else no longer wanted to use it. When it's done it's time, I won't buy another.

I can't keep a potted one long term (small flat), but I'd feel better about a cut tree than a plastic one!

pd339 · 27/12/2023 08:00

Nope. Christmas trees are non-natives, planted specifically and only for the purpose of being chopped down.

reluctantbrit · 27/12/2023 08:21

Christmas trees are grown specifically to be cut down in December. It's not as if we cut down forests and don't replant trees.

Our trees are collected by the council with the garden waste and then made into mulch for the council flower beds or other green spaces. We can also bring the tree to a shredder, DD found it hillarious to see how the tree is cut down like a paper shredder.

If you buy a local grown tree you support your economy and envrionment as well, we have several tree farms in the area, all small enterprises.

Even the netting is now fabric and not plastic anymore.

EBearhug · 27/12/2023 08:27

We always had a rooted one when I was growing up. It would start at about a foot high, then be planted in the garden and come back in every year until it was too tall for the sitting room. Then we'd start again the next year. It helped that we had a large garden. One tree is much higher than the house now. We grew a climbing rose up through it, so it also looked and smelled amazing in summer.

ThatsAnExcellentIdea · 27/12/2023 08:43

BlackAldi · 27/12/2023 07:23

Thanks all, good to have a mix of perspective and some validation that it’s sad seeing them grown to be cut down! There is a carbon cost to having any Christmas tree. I guess I need to keep our fake one as long as possible and try to keep the potted one alive!

If a locally bought tree is mulched at the end of its life then the carbon cost can be negligible.

lollipoprainbow · 27/12/2023 08:50

Yes, I have a real tree as I think they are beautiful but I feel so sad and guilty when I have to take it out for recycling.

Gingerbee · 27/12/2023 08:50

ThatsAnExcellentIdea · 26/12/2023 23:45

They're a crop, so I don't understand anyone objecting to them being cut down. They wouldn't be there in the first place if they weren't going to be cut down. And think of the positive effect they have on the environment whilst they are alive.

That said, I have a tradition of thanking the tree before it goes. It's probably a bit bonkers, and no-one knows I do it, but it doesn't seem right to send it off for recycling without thanking it for doing a sterling job!

I do this too.

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