Thinking of getting a real tree this year - need some pointers please

[TwoToTango]

What is the best type of tree to get to have as few needles falling off as possible.

Was thinking of getting it next weekend - is that too early - will it last until Xmas day?

How much does one cost - do they sell them by the foot? Was hoping to try and find somewhere that grows them.

Is it true that keeping them well watered helps them keep their needles - any other tips would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Watering helps yes.

IMO the Noble Fir is the best, it looks wonderful, drops very few needles and smells wonderful. It is quite expensive though, I just paid £50 for an 8ft tree, that was from a garden centre though a grower would be cheaper I expect.

I have mine up already and expect it to last the full Christmas period, they always have in the past. The best tip IMO is to keep them cool, don't put then next to a radiator or ina room that is kept hot!

HTH!

wonderful and wonderful sorry!

Get one with a root ball then it can be planted out at the end of christmas and does not drop so may needles especially if you keep it watered.

Thanks - will look next week then - didn't think they would be that expensive although I would only have a 5ft or 6ft tree - was hoping to spend around £20 so may have to get real!!

Before you put into the stand (must be a stand with a resevoir) cut a good two or three inches off the bottom, it gums over after it is harvested.

Chop the end off then stick it in a big bucket of water before you bring it indoors.

Leave the net on until it is position.

Then give it 24 hours to relax before you decorate it.

If you are buying a cut tree also buy a bucket thing to stand it in then you can keep it toped up with water throughout Xmas! real trees are fab!! Thionk we had a Nordman for last year and it as gorgeous!

And unless you are massively house proud, once you have real you will nver go back to artificial.IMO

OOh, don't let me put you off, the Noble fir is one of (if not the) most expensive options - I just love them!

For a 5/6ft you could easily get one for 15 to 20, however, they are a cheaper tree and so drop needles more. One with a root ball works, however I have only seen these in much smaller trees - up to around 4ft but that may just be the places I have been to buy one!

I think i've been convinced - have been googling and found a good grower not too far away - am looking forward to gettin gone now

BreeVanDerCampLGJ - LOL - me and being house proud are never likely to go hand in hand

gettin gone getting one

We get a Nordman fir - doesnt look quite as nice as the Noble fir but more affordable. However I did read today that spruces are much nicer for the smell 9even if they do needle drop more) and its true - we dont tend to get the lovely smell with ours.

Douglas firs are lovely too. Where are you TwoToTango?

West Mids - thinking of going to Cannock Chase

Ah! I wish you luck with your Christmas tree tracking-down. If you'd been near me, I could have suggested a nice forest where you can 'cut your own'. Enjoy!

We get the original shedding tree and I love finding needles in random places later in the year. It brings me right back to the lovely time we had.

If you're in west mids- the one we had last year was from Evesham nurseries- lasted beautifully, with no needle drop (though we bought on dec 21st), though I have no idea what type it was . We didn't have it in water either, as we have one of the tri-legged stands.
Was a 6ft, and was £20 I think.

We bought our tree yesterday from Wyevale, I can't remember what type it was, I thought it began with an E though??
It was £24.99 for between 175cm-200cm.

Tbh it has taken up a rather large chunk of our living room, the star almost reaches the ceiling, we had to buy a stand with it too though and chose a green wooden box type one which was £15, so they really aren't expensive.

I have no idea about how to stop the pines falling out, but have just read Bree's post and realised we didn't chop any of!!!
Eeek, can I still save my tree?

Sorry a tad confused.

So is the Nordman the best re not dropping needles then????

And Douglas Fir the best re smell but okish re needles????

I'm guessing there isn't a great smelling non needle drpper then????

this site seems to give a bit of detail about needle retention etc, there are better ones but I can;t find them at the moment!

great smelling non needle drop = Noble Fir

Personally I have gone from non-needle-srop right back to trad Chrissie tree (ie norway spruce or whatever) for these reasons:

1 It's a lot cheaper - like £10 not £25
2 It smells nice
3 It's a lot easier to decorate - lots of small branches everywhere
4 It you get a smaller one (5ft or so) a trad one is a much better shaper. Non-needle-drop ones of this height (IME) tend to be very big at the bottom and then just a big stick. Our house isn't big enough for a mega one.

I fine if it's kept in a stand which you can fill with water (£20 but well worth it) and you hoover every day (which I do anyway) the droppage is not too bad and well worth it for those reasons.

Ta-da! tho feel free to disagree with me.

BTW we don't usually put it up till about Dec 20th but that's just cause we're miserable

Lol at LGJ

TBH i've never understood the problem with needle-dropping, but if it's major, why not put a rug or something underneath the tree to localise it a bit?

re watering, i find that carting watering cans about can get messy, but it does help - an alternative is to put ice cubes on the soil, but you need to have a fair few ice trays on the go!