Rent a Christmas tree? What does everyone think?

[ABCeasyasdohrayme]

I have been looking at ways to be more eco friendly and stumbled upon a company who rent you a Christmas tree every year, then they take them back, replant them, and rent you the same one again next year until the trees 'retire' to a forest on the companies land.

The tree rental is probably about what a real tree would cost each year (I currently have a fake tree, but when that turns to shit I may well go for this).

Is this a good idea? Are there any downfalls I cant see (besides emissions from the delivery). Or does anyone have a better idea for a more sustainable Christmas tree?

That sounds like a great idea.

I don't like the idea of chopping Christmas trees down every year and throwing them away, it seems a bit disrespectful of nature.

That sounds really good!

Not all the trees will cope with growing in 5 degrees outside, then 2 weeks of central heating, and back out into the frost again. It’s a nice idea though. Do you have a garden? Could you just buy a pot-grown tree and keep it in your own space then bring it in when you want it? That would save the emissions, and also save the tree’s last year of root growth being hacked off to force fit into a pot every 12 months.

How does that even work, even assuming the tree would survive being uprooted and replanted, don't fir trees and spruce grow like 2 feet a year or similar? So your year 1 small 5' tree won't even fit in your house next year? Did I get this wrong?

I looked into it this year.

Where I live it's a least twice the price of what I normally pay...for a tree that's half the size.

And when you read the FAQ they admit that only about 20% of the trees are in a good enough state to be replanted. So basically you're paying through the nose for delivery and it being taken away again (plus you have to keep the box it came in)

Have you found one with availability? We’ve been looking and struggling to find one

Hmm, offset against delivery carbon footprint I'm not sure how that would work.

Would it be eco-friendly/an alternative to rent a fully decorated artificial tree. I did it when in the coroporate world - cost about £300, but no hassles.

this was the one I was looking at, it looks like they still have availability for this year, but I haven't looked too far into it as it will be next year, or the year after that I think.

I don't really have the room in my garden for a tree all year, that would be an ideal solution though.

Looking at the site you can either have the same tree every year, or a specific size every year,although I may have that wrong.

I wish I could afford £300 every Christmas, can you imagine just having people rock up with your decorations then come and take them away again.

Hopefully there will very a better solution in the next couple of years.

The company paid the £300 though, not me. Could have spent even more.... (Think Soup Co.) Personally, I have not had a tree since 2001.

Do you not do Christmas decorations at all? Or just no tree?

I did see a tree that was wooden and sort of fanned out into spiral shelves that you can put ornaments or whatever on. Maybe that would be a good solution.

We have a real tree every year and have tried keeping it in the pot but it doesn't live even with regular watering. The only way I think they would survive is if your house is below 10 degrees.

Do you have a local Christmas tree farm? The trees are grown as a crop, it's not like you're decimating a forest! After Christmas the tree can be composted/used for firewood/turned into a bug hotel.

Most Xmas trees are grown as a crop.

We did this for three years. Not sure it was actually “our” tree those years although it was tagged with our name. It was actually quite a fun part of Christmas to see how much it had grown in the year. And super convenient that it got delivered and collected. The dc loved the whole idea of it holidaying with us for Christmas every year.

Then the next year it had died :( They offered us another tree but tbh it seemed sad to do that (yeah I know, but in my defence lots of issues at home and the dead tree was the last straw!). So I bought a really good fake tree instead. Miss the fake tree smell though.

The most eco friendly option is to stop the tradition of trees altogether. I stopped years ago. The house can still look great decorated without a tree. They never really recover from being inside a centrally heated house.
You can make new traditions without chopping trees down or digging them up.

It would be fine if you keep your tree outdoors. Not so sure indoors would be very good unless you only had it up inside for like a week max.

Doubt it would survive indoors for those who put them up the first week in December until 12th night and then it goes back out. The two temperature changes would likely kill it.

Why not just buy your own tree (with roots) in a pot and put it out after the festive period? Is that not exactly the same thing? For a fraction of the price? I’d expect it to die though unless you keep your house cool.

I have a fake one that we put up early and Colin who is a real try we bought as a baby last year. He came in in his pot for 2 days over Xmas and brought his tree smell with him. He then got repotted back in the garden. He is bigger this year and we will try and drag him in for another few days at Xmas proper. He may be too big next year and need a retirement home …. No idea where that will be.. anyone need a large Xmas tree for their garden?

My mother used to have 3 trees with roots planted in the garden that she'd dig up and rotate, so they'd each have 3 years in the ground to recover, which worked really well. Fine if you have the space!

We did this last year. Had a tree in a pot from a local place and returned it at New Year. They all have identifying tags so you can request the same one the following year if you like.

It was a bit pricier than a cut one but we had pretty much zero drop from it, it smelled amazing, and it didnt join the tree graveyard at the end of my garden.

I'd rather rent one of those incredibly expensive fake ones I think if the real trees only live 20% of the time

In general I'm in favour of renting (anything!) where you can rather than buying

I had a tree in the garden that needed moved and dug that up brought it in indoors and then replanted post christmas. It's doing fine but to big to do the same again.

I have tried pot grown trees and they didn’t survive for very long. We have a local country park who sell some that they cut as part of the maintenance program , might be an idea if you have somewhere similar.

Current tree is a rescue Christmas tree off Gumtree that lasted previous family a fair few years and I intend to keep it long term.