Recycling Christmas Trees?

[cyp8472]

Last spring I thought about recycling my christmas tree (fraser fir) and using it for my cyps or any woodland plants I have. The pyro in me decided to stick with tradition and burn it!:evil: Nothing like seeing a 20 ft flame from a single tree to start off the new year. I was thinking on using the needles or shredding it up and adding it to mixes. Maybe as a mulch? Compost? Anybody have thoughts on this.

 

[SlipperFan]

I'm probably in the minority, but I shudder at the thought of killing trees to celebrate any holiday. Why not use a living tree?

 

[cyp8472]

Trust it kills me to cut one down but it is tradtion. It is literally the only thing I kill each year with the exception of anything that threatens my plants. That is why I want to use it to benifit my plants instead of burning it.

 

[SlipperFan]

It was traditional to have slaves awhile back, also.

 

[parvi_17]

I don't see why it would hurt the plants to use the material in this way, unless there is some harmful property of Christmas trees I don't know about.

I'm not sure it is appropriate to compare trees to slavery... and anyway Christmas trees are farmed, unless you actually go out and cut one down off your property.

 

[Candace]

If you've got a woodchipper, you could cut it up for mulch. Otherwise, in this area there are groups, that for a small donation(usually Boy Scouts) will recycle them. We used to go to a cut your own tree farm every season when the kids were small. Nice memories. Then the allergist had a conniption when he found out we got a live tree every year:< Being a mind over matter gal who doesn't want to live life in a bubble, I ignored his advice and the following year got a cut tree again. What stopped the practice is that year the live tree also brought in a couple hugely gross spiders and some trails of ants.

I bought a fake tree that same year on clearance and we are now allergy and pest free:> Nothing beats the smell of a nice 'real' tree, though.

 

[NYEric]

If you must cut a tree for the holiday tradition, re-using the fir tree as mulch would lower the local pH; which I believe is benificial to cyps. I would much rather get a live mini-tree or one of those rosemary bushes cut into x-mas tree shape that they sell at Home Depot.



You really are a woman after my own heart, I look forward to the day when we can meet.

It was traditional to have slaves awhile back, also.

 

[Inverness]

Christmas Trees

From another perspective, Christmas trees are produced on farms for the express purpose of harvest with a planned replanting strategy. This really isn't any different than any other vegetable crop.

Chipping up the tree and using it as mulch is probably the best course of action. While various conifer barks are used in orchid potting mixes, tree chips are primarily wood plus green needles; not the most stable growth environment for orchids.

Ken B.

 

[Candace]

From another perspective, Christmas trees are produced on farms for the express purpose of harvest with a planned replanting strategy. This really isn't any different than any other vegetable crop.

I agree.

 

[nikv]

For what it's worth, I use an artificial pre-lit tree for indoors and then I purchase a real wreath for the front door. I figure that they didn't have to cut down the tree to make the wreath; rather, it was made from the trimmings of other people's trees. Does that make any sense?

 

[NYEric]

That wreath must look good w/ all the snow!

 

[nikv]

^ ^
Having grown up in Minnesota, I've already fulfilled my lifetime quota of snow. I'd much rather be running around in t-shirts and shorts than deal with another white Christmas.

 

[NYEric]

I remember when I started skiing and we all would be hyper anxious about getting some snow. Now I wouldn't care if I never saw any.

 

[SlipperFan]

From another perspective, Christmas trees are produced on farms for the express purpose of harvest with a planned replanting strategy. This really isn't any different than any other vegetable crop.

If the trees were a crop for feeding animals or people, I might agree. But perhaps the land could be better used for more constructive purposes.

 

[PaphMadMan]

Commercially produced Christmas trees have possibly been treated with pesticides during production, and coloring agents and flame retardants after harvest. Probably nothing that would hurt distributed as landscape mulch but I wouldn't want to concentrate it around my orchids.

 

[Inverness]

Slipperfan, your line of thinking would seem to cast the commercial production of orchid plants in a somewhat undesirable light.

Ken B.

 

[SlipperFan]

Slipperfan, your line of thinking would seem to cast the commercial production of orchid plants in a somewhat undesirable light.

Ken B.

Orchids aren't grown to die.

 

[PaphMadMan]

Orchids aren't grown to die.

Most orchid plants sold are mass market plants in bloom or bud, and just get tossed out or die a slow death after flowering... They ARE grown to die. Just like Christmas trees and cut flowers and other florist plants, grown for temporary decoration and discarded. And Christmas tree plantations provide some wildlife habitat, often on land that isn't suitable for other crops, and with less environmental detriment. I personally don't celebrate Christmas, but the trees are at least as reasonable as any other purely decorative crop.

 

[NYEric]

I don't know about that, I'd have to see production numbers.

 

[Inverness]

The current largest pot plant producer of orchids in the USA is Matsui Nursery. They have over 2.5 million square feet of greenhouse space (just under sixty acres) and they've recently added an additional half million square feet. These houses contain approximately 10 million orchid plants in various phases of production. This is only one of many commercial orchid producers in the USA. Matsui's target audience are the mass marketers, not orchid hobbyists. Few (if any) of their plants are sold with labels. I'm not offering any criticism, but this is factual info. Also, according to USDA stats, orchids are the number two pot plant crop, poinsettias are number one.

Ken Brewer