When is ok to buy real Xmas tree for it to last?

[whyareweallhere]

Hi, wondering when the best time to buy a real cmas tree for it to be ok over Xmas? Thanks

Depends on what you buy. We normally have ours up for a couple of weeks but we buy a non drop one.
Years ago we bought a cheap one (for a couple of years in a row) and every time you walked anywhere near it, needles dropped everywhere and by the time Christmas Day arrived we were left with a bare stick in the middle of the room
We splash out now for something a bit more fancy and although I hear people saying water it a pint every day, it barely takes on any extra water and stays looking beautiful for a couple of weeks despite our very warm house.

I'm wondering whether to try a real tree as it's our first Christmas in our own home. What are the best non drop types? I'm also worried about getting one that's lovely and full and symmetrical. I think it might stress me too much

Probably the very best time would be Christmas Eve, but that is assuming the tree would be recently felled. If it was cut down in November, as many are, it might as well have been in your house all the time.

So try to get one that has not been hanging around. Last year we bought our first artificial tree, but previously we had got ours from a local farmer with a sideline in trees in the first or second week of December.

As soon as you get it home, cut a couple of inches off the bottom to help it take up water, keep it in a bucket of water until you want to take it in to decorate then stand it in the sort of container which you can keep topped up with water. You should then be OK, needle wise, until 12th Night.

My nordmann fir usually lasts 4-5 weeks without dropping

The Ikea tree offer is on again this year - £25 and you get a £25 voucher to spend in store in January. We’ve had one for the last few years (apart from last year when they ran out!). We’ve often bought really early and they’ve lasted all the way through.

Second Ikea. Bought ours this week last year, left it in a bucket of water outside for a couple of weeks, then put it up-lasted til 12th night easily.

We always get ours on the 1st a blue spruce (I think) DH cuts about an inch off the bottom of the stump and we keep watering it always the way through December, it'll drink loads more than you think and all should be good 😀

Like orangedaisy we keep ours outside in a bucket of water for a couple of weeks. (It’s worth buying a cut tree as early as poss even if you don’t want to bring it in yet.)

It doesn’t come inside until a few days before Christmas & then it stands in a big bucket full of pebbles which is kept topped up with water

I think as long as you chop an inch or so off the bottom and keep it in water it'll be fine for a good month.

& yes to cutting a slice off the bottom before putting it in the bucket - when they’re first cut the resin in the trunk seals it from absorbing water

Get one from a tree farm and they’ll last from now to February (I’m always late recycling and they are still green and full of needles then!)
If you buy one elsewhere chances are they were cut in September, so won’t last far past Christmas whenever you buy them.

We put ours up around the 18-20th and down on twelfth night. We then put it out in the garden to offer shelter to the birds for the next few months, finally the branches go to recycling and trunk is left for the fire.

@Howmanysleepstilchristmas we were planning on going to a tree farm to cut our own but they only have Norway spruce. Which I've read aren't very good?

That's only if I can get over my twitch of things not quite being straight or symmetrical or even.....

I think it may take HOURS to choose our tree

Can you choose your tree in Ikea to see the shape or are they all tied up in nets so luck on what the tree looks like?

We got ours from ikea Nottingham last year @bandol and they had a mix of loose and prenetted ones.

We go to a cut your own farm and get a Nordman, a week to 10 days into December, planning to go on Sat 8th this year, they last till 12th Night easily if kept in a stand that has a water bucket.

We buy ours a weekend or two before Christmas, depending how the dates fall. This year probably the 15/16 December. We get a nordman fir usually and have a water-filled stand and they last well for weeks.

If you have a real tree, do make sure to water it though.

We buy ours from a farm. Have never cut anything from the bottom but always used cheap lemonade (not diet variety) to water it. This was what the tree farm told us to do and it works like a dream. No shed and the tree last from the first weekend in December until early January.

Ok fun Xmas tree fact!

If it's been very cold, freezingly so abd the cut tree has been out in this freezing weather, it will keep its needles really well inside.

If it's mild, it won't.

I thought I'd ruined our (ikea) tree last year as left it in a bucket of water which froze solid. Was preggers and couldn't be bothered to move it plus it had a huge ton of ice around it. It lasted for aaaages, google told me this was why.

Ikea trees usually last til 12th night when bought first week of December for us

Biggest thing with inside trees is the heat of the room. We have ours in the same room as a log fire which heats the entire house...our tree (cut down by us on the first) was a fire hazard by Christmas. The room you put it in will affect the time it lasts. If its in a cold conservatory or a hallway the same tree will last longer. We'll put ours up 2 weeks before (then chop up and store for fire wood)

Friends dad sells them from his farm and year before last had complaints that needles dropped early; it was a really mild winter.

Ikea let you have a look at the shape.

Don't forget IKEA do the advent calendars with vouchers inside - £5 minimum in each one. So if you get four (think that's the max you can buy) the worst case scenario is you can almost pay for your tree with the vouchers and your chocolate calendars were free. Best case, you'll win vouchers of a higher value!