Love the idea of a real tree, hate the idea of killing/wasting trees

[TheBeesKnee]

This is probably silly but every year I want a real Christmas tree. I love the shape and the smell.

Then in the run up to Christmas DP and I mooch around looking at trees and back out because of how sad and wasteful it is to cut an entire tree down just to decorate it for a month.

I hate our old plastic tree as well, it is very old and crooked and looks a bit worse for wear, with various twigs that have fallen off over the years.

Does anyone else feel the same and if so how do you get over this dilemma?

The other thing is that I have absolutely no problem with buying fresh flowers for the house every fortnight in the spring/summer, but a tree just feels different somehow?!

We got a live potted one 6 years ago, it’s now on its 4th pot and lives outside for most of the year but it’s still happy enough!

You could get one in a pot that you bring in every Christmas? They environmentally friendly, and ours were grown in Scotland for the purpose. After Christmas you can shred and use for garden chip.

Whatever you do do not just plant it in your garden. I bought a house with a massive 40ft Christmas tree in the garden that the previous owners had planted a few years back. It blocked all the light and cost a fortune to remove.

Beat me to it 😂

Lots of farms will take them for goats etc to eat.

Cut flowers are horrendous for the environment. They grow in greenhouses and get flown around the world. They’re one of the worst things you can buy in terms of environmental impact. you should feel far worse about buying cut flowers

Real trees do soak up carbon when growing, but will also release it when decomposing, so environment wise it's the transport and handling costs. Artificial trees obviously are plastic with associated problems - but can be reused for many years. No real winner. You could check out Facebook Marketplace - I got an almost new 6 foot M&S Christmas tree for £25! I intend to use it for many years.

Nicely put (but I do have a plastic tree as a substitute)

We got a real tree in a pot from asda 4 years ago and it still going strong! We stick it out in the garden most of the year and just bring it in at Xmas. Only works if you have outside space obviously.

I have one. Bought locally. Farmed locally. Chopped up and composted / stacked for drying for later burning after Xmas.

I love having a real tree.

Real trees do soak up carbon when growing, but will also release it when decomposing, so environment wise it's the transport and handling costs

This is also a factor with rented trees- they seem greener because you reuse them but this only works if they are also local- there’s nothing green about transporting a tree in a heavy pot half way across the country and back every year.

I’d always go for a locally grown real tree if possible. Another option is a fake tree provided you commit to keeping it for at least a decade. Or if you want to be really green, nice twigs which you collect yourself and put in a vase can look good decorated.

This is an interesting article

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/dec/08/are-real-or-fake-christmas-trees-better-for-the-planet

We have an artificial tree which we've used for many years and plan to use for many years to come but when it's had it's time I'm switching to real trees.

I would also suggest checking local charity shops for artificial trees. My local shop brings them out for sale - and this year had around 20.
I bought 2 last year, both is excellent condition, and cost only £3 or so.
Saving an artificial tree from landfill is a good thing.

Gosh that jenga tree looks utterly austere and joyless but hey glad you like it @Callmecordelia

Where I live (not UK) the local council collects all the trees on a certain day and then composts the whole lot and you can buy bags of compost for the garden at the local recycling centre at a very subsidised rate. Some councils in rural areas are even collecting the trees using heavy horses and a cart.

ThreeRingCircus that's a good article.

Our council collect and compost too- the compost is used in parks, public places, and given to our local guerrilla gardening group.

As others have said, Christmas trees are a crop grown specifically for Christmas. The industry provides jobs and adds revenue to the economy in a way that's a lot less environmentally damaging than many other industries. Of course it's still worse than 'doing nothing' but doing nothing isn't really realistic en mass - the economy needs to be maintained somehow. To be more environmentally friendly consumer spending has to be re directed from more damaging products to less damaging ones - but it has to go somewhere. Growing Christmas trees is a nicer way to use the land economically than a factory producing Christmas trees!

So do get and enjoy your real tree guilt free!

I feel the need to share this: 😆

Very true but they also take precious space away from native wildlife, space where native trees should be. Most Christmas tree farms do not encourage wildlife, some do all they can to keep it away.

The compromise is buying a potted tree. After Christmas repot into a bigger pot and keep it in the garden, you can bring it in each year. I have bought a small pot grown tree from Lidl and I plan on repotting and putting on my allotment until next year.

Agree, there are pros and cons to either choice; real or artificial.

It doesn’t have to be a choice between real or a broken artificial one that doesn’t stand up and has half the branches snapped off though.

Christmas trees are generally grown on land which would otherwise be used for other types of agriculture- it wouldn’t be woodland.

I think you’ve got it the wrong way round.

When I see plastic trees in people’s living rooms, all I see is it sitting in landfill for another 400 years + after they’ve decided not to use it anymore. We send our real Christmas tree down the road to be recycled. I suppose the most environmentally friendly thing to do would be not to celebrate with a tree at all.

I googled that decomposition figure. It’s saying it could take 500 years for a plastic tree to decompose!

I like it! I would have considered buying one but all the big ones are out of stock.

I have a similar tree to this, but it's more twig like. I bought it when my eldest daughter was 6 months old and I didn't want to risk her trying to stand up and pull a real one over on top of her.

Daughter is now 25 and the tree is still going strong (though we always have a big real one too).

@TiAmoTiAmo do you feel better for getting that snark out of your system?

Like most Christmas trees it's better decorated. With lights and baubles etc it's very pretty.