The Christmas tree debate: real or fake?

[Misty9]

We've got a 7 foot plastic tree but I'm hankering after a real one this year. But which would be more environmentally friendly? To ditch the fake and buy a real one (give fake one away) or stick with the fake one? We've had it about 3 years I think.

What are the benefits of each do people think?

I made DP get a real one last year for our first Christmas together with DD as a family, even though he wanted a fake. I really dislike plastic trees, it seems so absurd to me to have a fake tree in your house, along with the environmental impact of all that plastic just puts me off. Same reason I won't buy faux fur. This year I want to get one of the living trees in a pot that you can put outside and bring in year after year until they get too big. Seems the most environmentally friendly option. Plus you can't beat the smell and character of a real tree!

We really need a tall tree but with a relatively small diameter at its widest point. We bought a fake one a couple of years ago for this reason. We might buy a small, tabletop-size real one this year as well.

Real tree this year. We bought a 6 foot artificial one 9 years ago and have used it every other year approximately. It's a very nice one, looks good. But we do enjoy going and picking a real tree and it's our first year in the new house so it seems appropriate to get a real tree this time. We buy a Nordman Fir two weeks before Christmas.

those trees have been grown for 5+ years and contributed to the environment (and the economy) during that time. It's like being upset about eating carrots ...

Exactly

My friend has a farm and grows christmas trees.

The land they are grown on is not suitable for any other crop, and would remain barren without christmas trees.

Always real, but then we don't put it up very early and it goes in a bucket of wet gravel which keeps it reasonably fresh until 12th night.
Yes, the needles can be a bit of a pain, even with a non drop one, but I'm prepared to,put up with that.

Although I'm all for eco-friendly things in general, I don't object to real trees on that account. After all Christmas trees are a crop, like any other, grown for the purpose - we're not talking rain forest devastation - and trees do absorb a lot of carbon dioxide while they're growing.

To all of you who say they don't want to "kill" a tree. Don't you buy cut flowers? Do you buy specifically planted fruit and veg to eat?

Christmas trees are grown as other crops and the majority of them are recycled by being mulch or other soil cover. Also the years the tree needs to grow its 5-7ft it produces much needed oxygen.

No doubt about it, real trees are far more environmentally friendly,however we cant afford one so will have to make do with a few boughs of holly across the mantle (From our own holly bush that could do with a prune before MaidenMotherCrone starts accusing me of damaging the countryside). We also have a 10year old 7foot plastic tree given to us by my sister.

A tree is made of wood and leaves.
Not plastic.

We alternate our fake tree (bought several years ago now) and a real tree. If we're at home for Christmas we'll go real, if we're going to be away we put up the fake one. Real or fake always goes up about 2 weeks before Christmas. We have a high ceiling in the living room so we spend a fortune when we get a real tree, but I do prefer them to fake ones. The fake one does the job though!

Fake. Saves money and I don't like the idea of cutting down trees for decoration. Besides I hate that I can't make them symmetrical like I can with my fake tree and even the non drop ones drop needles and it drives me mad!

My son is very allergic to real Christmas trees. It’s ok outdoors but a stress in public buildings.

We have a fake tree now (obviously). I miss the pine smell a bit but don’t miss the mess caused by a real tree!

We have a fake tree because the real trees make me wheeze which is a shame because I much prefer them.

We have a fake tree as the cost of real ones rocketed a few years ago, and I can't justify it anymore. I miss having a 'proper' tree, but we have high ceilings so 'need' a 12' tree (chop top & bottom off) and we could only find them at £85+ when I last looked.

We have a real tree in the living room and fakes elsewhere.
We but in the second week of December: family outing to choose it. We vary year on year depednidng on what they have on the day we go but have found fraser fir to be a lovely even shape, fairly narrow and drops hardly any needles at all. We buy a drilled one which goes onto a stand with a post in the bottom and is filled with water. the tree generally drinks at least a pint a day and is still lovely by 12th night.

The land they are grown on is not suitable for any other crop, and would remain barren without christmas trees.

I'm quite sure they could grow other crops there, but Christmas trees are quite lucrative. I don't really think you can claim that nothing grows other than Christmas trees as a pro-real tree argument.

Fake for us, had a real tree once, never again, needles everywhere!

We had real trees for years, but they’re quite expensive and not a cheap option considering you just throw it out after a few weeks.

The real tree we had the year before last wilted and dried out before Christmas, so last year we got a snowy artificial one from Argos.

It wasn’t very expensive and I would have paid more but it was just as nice as more expensive ones.

Looking forward to decorating it again, but I’ve got some different lights for this year.

I always felt that throwing away a real one seems wasteful and sort of sad

Interesting to read everyone’s viewpoints. I’ve now seen the price of some real trees - fake it is!
Seriously though, actually ds has asthma and we think was set off last year when we visited a family member with a tree, so maybe he’d react to a real tree anyway.

Real for us.

I read that you would need to reuse an artificial tree for at least 10 years for it to have less environmental impact than a real one.

We visit a local farm around about now, pay a deposit, enjoy some complimentary damson gin and mince pies, tag the tree we want and then go and chop it down in mid-Dec so it (hopefully) lasts until twelfth night. The council collect and recycle shortly after that.

Catastrophe - well of course something could grow there but nothing that is worth the time and money cultivating. You don't imagine things just " grow" on bits of spare land that farmers pick of silly nilly.
Might as well sell it off for housing.
Would that be better than a plantation of Christmas trees?
Once it's gone it won't go back to farm land.

Not sure why you're so cross - I merely pointed out that the land growing the trees could sustain other plant growth which you agree it could. And to be fair, growing nothing on patches of land is positively encouraged by Defra at the moment and is really quite lucrative.

Fake.

We paid €12 for a 5ft tree in 2006 when we were broke. We are still broke. No way we have a spare €50+ at this time of year for a tree.

Homemade decorations all the way, too

So where's best for a good value fake tree??

We have a 7ft pre lit artificial one in the living room. Had it 2/3 years. I absolutely love it. We replaced our previous artificial one as it was looking a bit worst for wear and was smaller. We had had it for 30 years, as it was DHs family tree when he was growing up. We gave it to the reuse shop who use it each year to display their decorations.

A 5ft real one in the kitchen so if needles drop, they are easier to clean up. We chop it up and use it as firewood.