Anyone have any experiences with replantable Christmas trees? Would you recommend it? for Questionland Seattle

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Anyone have any experiences with replantable Christmas trees? Would you recommend it?

I'm looking into possibly getting a Christmas tree that can be replanted after Christmas is over, and I am wondering if anyone else has done this before and if it actually worked. Also, do you know where to actually get one? I found an old post on CHTriangle that named a few companies but can't find anything besides that. Ideas?

Danielle Booth asked in Gardening over 2 years ago | Report

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Swanson's Trees for Salmon program let's you buy a live tree for the holidays, then return it to Swansons who turns around and plants it along the salmon stream in Carkeek Park. Worked great for us last year and we plan to do it again. (Can't keep the tree indoors for more than a couple of weeks though.)

http://www.swansonsnursery.com/Events/Trees_For_Salmon.shtml

Nater answered in Gardening over 2 years ago | Report

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My family used to get a small living tree for the kitchen every year. We would plant it in the front yard after christmas and now when I return home to visit my folks there are a bunch of monster pines with memories attached waiting for me.

Second to OMC, just check your local nursery for the variety you like. Get one small enough to transport, keep it watered and don't go to crazy on the lights and you should have a lovely little tree to plant in a few weeks.

Lukeiscool answered in Gardening over 2 years ago | Report

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Abdul Alhazred

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The live Xmas tree you want is the PNW tree you like best out of the choices now available. Some ideas:

Douglas fir. Relatively common, faster growing, disease resistant.

True firs, including noble fir, silver fir, grand fir. Slower growing. (Grand fir is sometimes called 'piss fir' for the odor of sap & crushed needle).

Spruces, including Norway, Englemann, Blue. Susceptible to spruce bud worm & spruce aphid

Pines: Scot's (Scotch) pine, white pine, etc. Pines are more of an east coast/southeastern Xmas tree.

You may find bare root, plug, or containerized plantings, including live root stock comparable in size to cut xmas trees. These larger ones are expensive, heavy, and all pots leak, so beware indoor. Try local retail nurseries (Wells Medina) for larger stock. You may have to drive a distance to find a nursery in stock now.

We took true firs (2-0 plug rootstock from Weyerhaeuser in Federal Way), planted them outdoor in moveable planters, decked them out for multiple holidays, then transplanted into backyard when they got rootbound. They were indoors first year only (think Charlie Brown's tree). Overall, Noble fir did best for us.

Disclaimer: This topic deserves separate research as there's lots of relevant info no-one wants to read.

Check with nurseries, the Elizabeth Miller Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington http://depts.washington.edu/hortlib/index.shtml, WSU King County Extension Agent, Master Gardener program, your local city urban forester, or a landscape architect. Three weeks indoors may be too much if they dry out, break bud, or end up unsheltered outside in a hard freeze.

Thoughtful placement will keep you from cutting the tree down before its time. First determine the best place to plant; obtain permission if you are not the owner. Considerations include but are not limited to species, height, crown width and root system, proximity to overhead & underground utilities, structures, and other planting.

Abdul Alhazred answered in Gardening over 2 years ago | Report

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Growing up, my family had a potted tree for a few years, until it started to overgrow the pot and look unhealthy, at which point it was planted outdoors. We moved it into the garage a month before xmas to let it adjust to warmer temperatures, only kept it inside for a couple of weeks, and then put it back in the garage for a while before putting it outside.

You don't need to pay a premium for a special "replantable Christmas tree", just go to the nursery and get a tree. Ours was a blue spruce, and it tolerated the whole thing pretty nicely for longer than we expected it would.

Violet DaGrinder answered in Gardening over 2 years ago | Report

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Don't keep trees intended for outdoors indoors for too long; the heat will cause them to drop their needles and sulk. If you get a species like a Norfolk Pine, they're intended for indoors and will be very sad if you put them outside.

If you buy a living tree that you want to replant, try not to let it get too warm and don't let it dry out. I'd recommend not keeping it indoors for more than 2 weeks, then harden it off on a covered porch or something for a couple weeks before you actually plant it, so it can reacclimatize to outdoors.

Geni answered in Gardening over 2 years ago | Report

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Try your local nursery. Not only can they recommend a good variety, but the tree itself could be your xmas present to someone (your family? Yourself?) and then be planted in the correct landscaping spot for your yard.

(This assumes you have a yard and the cash for a landscaping tree....)

O my captain answered in Gardening over 2 years ago | Report

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I think you had a great idea to choose such a Christmas tree. This would also be my choice if i wasn't living in an apartment and i would have my own backyard. Anyways, i am not complaining, artificial Christmas trees look so lovely, they are not expensive and i can use them for many years from now on, so they are a better choice for me than a cut tree. You should look for tree farms in your area though, if you are still looking for a real one.

annie answered in Gardening over 2 years ago | Report

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Works fine - keep watered - and take to the dirt outside the day after Christmas.

My family did this for 20 years and the Bellevue house and yard looks great because of the evergreens.

Go for it. I bet the parks dept. will tell you where to plant, just a hunch. Call them.

George Bakan answered in Gardening over 2 years ago | Report

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Just be sure you pick the proper spot for planting for the variety you get. Some of them get really big and what's fine for that classic Christmas tree size/shape isn't good for a full grown evergreen. Kind of defeats the purpose if you're cutting it down in a few years because it outgrows the yard.

Merry Christmas.

PA Native answered in Gardening over 2 years ago | Report

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