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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to complain to the garden centre about my Christmas tree?

27 replies

merlin · 20/12/2009 20:09

because it is dropping a huge amount of needles!

DH bought it 2 weeks ago, spent a week in the garage and came in last weekend (the tree not DH!!!).

We only have to breathe near it and loads fall off and it's a Nordman too!

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therednosedcariboo · 20/12/2009 20:12

Same for us! It's a disgrace, isn't it? But the damned things were chopped down at least a month ago so yeah, once you bring it in to a temp of 20°c, there go the needles! Should we give in & go fake?

GroundHoHoHogs · 20/12/2009 20:13

Did you put it in water? they need a heck of a lot each day, even cut ones...

Original poster
merlin · 20/12/2009 20:14

Cariboo - it's so disappointing! I have banned the DSs from going near it in a vain attempt to keep it looking OK til at least Xmas Day! And it cost us £55 - tis a 7ft!

I'm going to complain - maybe they will give me a voucher!!

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Original poster
merlin · 20/12/2009 20:15

In water - think just got a duff tree somehow.

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oopsandbabyJesusinacoconut · 20/12/2009 20:16

We were told they need at least 1.5 pints of warm water a day. You also need to have cut the bottom inch off the tree before putting in water. We do this and they still lose some but not as many as previous years.

snowedinwithJjandtheBean · 20/12/2009 20:17

OMG £55 Where did you buy it??

we go to a really posh local barn that has the most AMAZING christmas shops/displays and so on, you could make a day of it.
Anyway weve never spent over £30 and we always have 7/8ft, did you cut a few inches off the bottom and keep it watered?

But YANBU, mil got hers from B&Q and the next day loads had dropped off and it was droopy she took it back, got the cash and went elsewhere.

(also why was it in the garage for a week?)

therednosedcariboo · 20/12/2009 20:19

Same here again. But I was warned so cannot complain... we bought ours yesterday cause I thought we could get a fresh one but one guy told me in another gardening centre (which had sold out of trees) that they're not grown locally so will last max 2 weeks from today. Eek! A shite-load of money for a tree, especially one past its sell-by date. Grrrrr!

diddl · 20/12/2009 20:19

That´s terrible,OP.

We haven´t got one yet!

Original poster
merlin · 20/12/2009 20:20

It was left in the garage cos I thought that would save the needle drop!! No different to the way they store them at the garden centre.

Didn't know about cutting the bottom off - never done that before and tree always been fine.

I'm really pissed off now.

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bluesparklypartydress · 20/12/2009 20:22

I've got a Nordman from B&Q, didn't cut off the bottom and not added any water since it went up 8 days ago - it has only dropped about 10 needles! Maybe your house is too warm?

therednosedcariboo · 20/12/2009 20:22

Apparently cutting the base, adding sugar to the water, etc is no use. Keeping the room humid can help but with central heating in the floors & a fireplace, the house is terribly dry. Our tree is doomed! I should have got one like Charlie Brown's.

Nefertari · 20/12/2009 20:24

My DP works at a garden centre, and is the person who stocks the trees for sale there. I guess you could take it back and ask for a refund, but it also depends on how the tree was cared for after you purchased it.

Bringing a tree into a hot temperature indoors will cause needles to fall, as will dehydration.

Original poster
merlin · 20/12/2009 20:24

It's not particularly close to a radiator - heating isn't on all day and when it is it's about 20 so not really hot!

When you knock it a good handful of needles falls off and some of the lower branches are looking bald in places now!

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Original poster
merlin · 20/12/2009 20:26

Nefariti - but they don't keep them warm at the garden centre do they? So, putting it in the garage is no different and then bringing it indoors - I expect a few to fall off but not this many!

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lockets · 20/12/2009 20:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

VicarInaTinselTuTu · 20/12/2009 20:29

i stopped buying real ones cos i felt mean letting them die....sad i know!

i got a really expensive bushy gorgeous fake one which i love. its big and fat and bushy and looks quite real but no mess and no dead tree to dispose of after christmas.

the only way id have a real one again is one with its roots on that i could use year after year.

Nefertari · 20/12/2009 20:34

Merlin, just to try and pinpoint a reason, it's really cold at the moment, so how warm is the house you've taken the tree into? A big jump in temp may have caused the problem. I'd try to be more helpful, but DP is the green-fingered one, and he's too involved with something else at the moment! My fingers are very obviously not green

Nefertari · 20/12/2009 20:35

And I should add, we have a fake one that we've had for at least 15 years.......

Ivykaty44 · 20/12/2009 20:37

It is to hot in your house 20 is to hot for a tree.

We used to have a real tree when I was growing up, we did not have central heating but a real fire in the room where the tree was, the tree dropped needles and mum would hoover then everyday.

Maleeka · 20/12/2009 20:40

We got ours about 2 weeks ago too and it looks like crap. If an ant farts in the garden loads of needles drop off it and as its next to the back door, since the bleedin snow came, the kids have been back and forth into the garden knocking it every time!

I dont think it will last till xmas and i'm totally fed up of hoovering up!

CybilinExcelsisDaewoo · 20/12/2009 20:40

I havent watered my tree once and it still hasn't dropped a single needle. Yours sounds duff...and £55!

therednosedcariboo · 21/12/2009 09:17

The thing that worries me most is the fire hazard. I read somewhere that it's possible to fireproof a real tree but not sure how or where to do this. Anyone?

Ivykaty44 · 21/12/2009 09:34

for you cybilin

Lancelottie · 21/12/2009 09:55

Not much help this year, bu we have a potted one that spends the rest of the year in the garden. Doesn't drop ANYthing.

OTOH, four years down the line, it's still only four feet high...

Original poster
merlin · 21/12/2009 12:29

Well, I rang and complained - they sent a lovely man out to take a look and he agreed that I was one of the unlucky ones with a duff tree!

So full refund and we now have an exclusion zone around it to limit the needle drop until Christmas Day!!!!!

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