Author: Robin Enos

It wasn’t easy, but you’ve picked the perfect tree for Christmas. Now, the challenge is to keep it fresh and beautiful throughout the holiday season. Doing that, however, is easier said than done. Some people use preservatives to keep their trees fresh. Preservatives have their pros and cons. Knowing those can help you make an informed decision about using Christmas tree preservatives.

Below, we discuss the pros and cons of using preservatives to keep your Christmas tree fresh and beautiful. We also provide seven additional tips on how to do that over the holiday season, emphasizing the significance of proper care in maintaining the beauty of your tree.
Tree preservatives have several pros for keeping your tree fresh:
• Reduced needle drop: By inhibiting the growth of bacteria and fungi in the tree stand water, preservatives can help prevent needle loss, keeping your tree looking fuller and greener longer.
• Improved water uptake: Some preservatives can help the tree absorb water more efficiently by lowering the water’s surface tension. This step helps ensure the tree stays hydrated and prevents it from drying out prematurely.
• Longer lifespan: Preservatives can help extend the overall life of your Christmas tree by combining the benefits of reduced needle drop and improved water uptake, allowing you to enjoy its festive presence for a longer period.
There’s no guarantee, for example, that preservatives will significantly extend the life of your tree, and they can add an extra cost to your Christmas tree budget. Also, some preservatives contain chemicals that could hurt the environment, which can be harmful if ingested by children or pets.
These chemicals can also leach into the soil and water, affecting local ecosystems. To mitigate this, always follow the instructions on the product label carefully and consider using eco-friendly alternatives. Some ingredients may cause skin irritation and harm the environment. So, check the label instructions on using the product.
Popular Christmas Tree Preservatives
Some popular tree preservatives include Miracle-Gro Christmas Tree Food, Pursell’s Christmas Tree Preservative, Bonide Christmas Tree Preservative, and EZ Gardener Christmas Tree Preservative. You can also use home remedies like aspirin or sugar as tree preservatives. Home remedies’ effectiveness can vary, but they’re among the safest approaches to keeping your tree fresh.
How effective are preservatives? Some studies on their effectiveness show mixed results. Some indicate that preservatives can slightly reduce needle drop and help the tree retain moisture. Others show minimal or no significant difference in needle retention between trees treated with preservatives and those without. When choosing a preservative, some factors include tree species, preservative type, and proper care.

Below, we discuss the pros and cons of using preservatives to keep your Christmas tree fresh and beautiful. We also provide seven additional tips on how to do that over the holiday season, emphasizing the significance of proper care in maintaining the beauty of your tree.

Tree preservatives have several pros for keeping your tree fresh:

• Reduced needle drop: By inhibiting the growth of bacteria and fungi in the tree stand water, preservatives can help prevent needle loss, keeping your tree looking fuller and greener longer.
• Improved water uptake: Some preservatives can help the tree absorb water more efficiently by lowering the water’s surface tension. This step helps ensure the tree stays hydrated and prevents it from drying out prematurely.
• Longer lifespan: Preservatives can help extend the overall life of your Christmas tree by combining the benefits of reduced needle drop and improved water uptake, allowing you to enjoy its festive presence for a longer period.

There’s no guarantee, for example, that preservatives will significantly extend the life of your tree, and they can add an extra cost to your Christmas tree budget. Also, some preservatives contain chemicals that could hurt the environment, which can be harmful if ingested by children or pets.

These chemicals can also leach into the soil and water, affecting local ecosystems. To mitigate this, always follow the instructions on the product label carefully and consider using eco-friendly alternatives. Some ingredients may cause skin irritation and harm the environment. So, check the label instructions on using the product.

Popular Christmas Tree Preservatives

Some popular tree preservatives include Miracle-Gro Christmas Tree Food, Pursell’s Christmas Tree Preservative, Bonide Christmas Tree Preservative, and EZ Gardener Christmas Tree Preservative. You can also use home remedies like aspirin or sugar as tree preservatives. Home remedies’ effectiveness can vary, but they’re among the safest approaches to keeping your tree fresh.

How effective are preservatives? Some studies on their effectiveness show mixed results. Some indicate that preservatives can slightly reduce needle drop and help the tree retain moisture. Others show minimal or no significant difference in needle retention between trees treated with preservatives and those without. When choosing a preservative, some factors include tree species, preservative type, and proper care.

Additional Tips on Keeping Your Tree Fresh

While preservatives may offer some benefits, they’re not a silver bullet. They won’t keep your tree fresh all by themselves. Here are seven other things you can do to keep your Christmas tree fresh:

1. Make a fresh cut: Before placing the tree in the stand, cut off about an inch from the base of the trunk. This step removes sap that has sealed off the pores, allowing the tree to absorb water more effectively.
2. Water immediately & regularly: Fill the stand with water when you bring the tree home. Check the water level daily and refill it as needed. Never let the water level drop below the base of the trunk.
3. Avoid heat sources: Keep the tree away from heat sources such as fireplaces, radiators, and heat vents. Direct sunlight can also dry out the tree.
4. Choose the right stand: Select a sturdy tree stand that can hold plenty of water. The stand should be large enough to accommodate the tree’s base and deep enough to hold at least 1 gallon of water for every inch of trunk diameter. Look for stands with a wide base for stability and a large water reservoir to reduce the frequency of refilling.
5. Increase humidity: Use a room humidifier to increase the moisture in the air, which can help prevent the tree from drying out.
6. Reduce stress: Avoid over-handling the tree. Gently guide branches into position and minimize bending and breaking.
7. Turn off lights: Turn off Christmas tree lights when you leave the house or go to bed to reduce heat stress on the tree.

These tips can help you keep your Christmas tree fresh and beautiful throughout the holiday. When the holidays are over, recycle your tree at a designated drop-off location. Many communities offer free tree recycling programs. Contact RI Tree if you have additional questions about keeping your tree fresh or recycling it.

Take a second to picture a tree that you love – maybe it’s the big oak in your backyard, the street tree in front of your house, or the new ornamental tree that you just planted in your garden. You probably will do (a number of things²) several things to care for your tree – water it while it’s young or during a period of drought, mulch it in the springtime, or get it professionally pruned as it matures. 

You might also do some things to mitigate harm to the above-ground portions of the tree, like ask a builder not to hit the trunk or branches during a home renovation project. However, we generally don’t consider the potentially harmful effects of our every-day behavior on the health of our beloved trees, and consequently, fail to implement a few simple, but high-impact solutions.

Interacting with Our Trees

Let’s take those three hypothetical trees mentioned above. Maybe you picnic around that big oak in your backyard or dash underneath the canopy when it starts to rain. Maybe you walk across the sidewalk tree well in which your street tree is planted, while being careful not to hit the trunk as you open your car door. Maybe you water your ornamental tree, and then walk about the garden pulling weeds and tending to other plants.

These are all wonderful ways to interact with the trees at home or in our communities but walking repeatedly across the soil that’s covering tree roots (particularly when the soil is wet) is not one of them³.  This causes the soil to compact, squeezing out of it the water and oxygen  essential for healthy plant growth.

Water is an obvious plant requirement, but oxygen is just as necessary below ground as it is above. Without soil oxygen, the tree’s vascular systems cannot properly function and roots are unable to absorb water. There also are microbes and organisms underground that are beneficial to tree survival and need oxygen as well.

Spike Aeration Boosts Tree Health

Here at RI Tree Council, we (definitely) don’t want you to stop picnicking under your tree or wandering around your garden – and the good news is, you don’t have to! Here are some tips (and tricks) to perform soil aeration (the practice of loosening soil to create pathways between soil particles) so that you can keep your beloved trees healthy for years to come.

Spike aeration is the easiest way for home gardeners to aerate their soil on their own! Grab a spikey tool, like a hand cultivator, metal rake, or pitchfork and puncture the soil in a broad area all around your tree. This will allow it to become more porous so oxygen can access the roots and water can drain more readily through the soil. Be careful not to stab surface roots with your tool!

Aerate around your trees once or twice a year, in the spring and/or fall, and always follow-up with mulch (find a great video on how to properly mulch HERE). For mature trees that are starting to show their age, it might be best to aerate the soil, mulch a large area around the base, and then try your best to walk over the roots as little as possible. Mature trees tend to be even more vulnerable to soil compaction.

Lastly – be aware that a healthy-looking tree is not an indication that your soil is fine! The negative impacts of soil compaction might not become visible in the canopy for (a number of growing seasons) many years. Be proactive and build aeration into your annual tree care routine.

Want more tips about keeping your trees healthy, or planning for the installation of new woody plants? Check out RI Tree Council’s other articles on tree care HERE, or sign up for the next Tree Stewards course!

The second classroom lecture of the 2022 Tree Stewards Course took place on Tuesday evening, October 11 at the Mohr Library, Johnston, RI.  Soil Management was the topic.   Students learned about the important physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil.  They were also instructed on how to take a proper soil sample, interpret soil test results, and implement test recommendations.  Next week’s class will focus on tree and shrubbery pruning. 

RITree’s Instructor Craig Hotchkiss explains Soil pH and its importance in maintaining healthy soils.

This article is the second on evaluating the worth of a tree on your property. In the first article we discussed an informal way of judging a tree’s worth. Here we look at more formal ways of valuating a tree.

Trees offers numerous benefits to the community. No question about it. But they also have a dollar value all their own. So, if you lose a tree on your property, you can sometimes recapture its monetary loss through an insurance claim or by taking a deduction on your federal income tax. The IRS defines a casualty loss as “… a loss resulting from an identifiable event of sudden, unexpected, or unusual nature.” Events under this definition include storms, floods, lightning, vandalism, and air and soil pollution. 

Before filing an insurance claim or taking a deduction, however, you need to determine the value of the tree. You can do that yourself, which can be a challenge. Or, you can contact a qualified arborist to help you appraise the tree. He or she can help you determine the tree’s value for insurance losses, tax deductions, estate assessments, and tort claims. The appraisal also is handy if questions arise about the value of a tree on your property.

What is an Appraisal?

An appraisal is an objective, unbiased estimate of trees (or any other type of plant) on your property. In that case, you may need to litigate the dispute in a court or by arbitration, which would be based on an unbiased and honest appraisal of the plant’s value by professionals. The best time to get an appraisal is before the tree is damaged or destroyed. But many appraisals occur after a tree is damaged, removed, or destroyed from a person’s property.

If you evaluate a tree after the loss, the appraiser must gather critical information about the tree. The information may include previous site records, tree assessments, site reviews, and witnesses to the tree’s condition. The appraiser may also conduct a comparative sampling on a local basis. A critical step in determining valuation is the tree’s depreciation factors, including the tree’s condition, functional limitations, and external limitations.

The tree’s condition refers to its overall health. Functional limitations include tree placement, site conditions, the proximity of power lines, and any genetic issues. External limitations include issues outside the owner’s control that can affect the tree’s structure, form, and sustainability, such as water availability, threats from pests, ordinances, and rights of way. Having determined the tree’s pre-damage condition, the appraiser then determines the evaluation for your tree.

Methods for Evaluating Trees

Three methods exist for evaluating trees—the Cost Approach, Income Approach, and Sales Comparison approach. You can find a good description of each method in Guide for Plant Appraisal, the 10^th edition of which is now available. The publication is endorsed by significant arboriculture and horticultural groups. It’s a good resource for valuating trees.

The Cost Approach focuses on the plant, location, and species as depreciation factors. While the Income Approach uses the value of produce to assign value to a tree. The Sales Comparison Approach to valuing a tree considers the increase or decrease to your property by the plants’ presence. Each evaluation method has its pros and cons. The Tree Council can help you choose the correct method for you, given these pros and cons.

But evaluating a tree or trees on your property can be a challenge. It’s a complex undertaking, which is why it’s better left to a professional. Take the Cost approach, for example. Four methods exist for this approach—the Replacement Cost method, Trunk Formula method, Cost of Repair method, and Cost of Cure method. A popular technique within this Cost Approach Method is the Trunk Formula Technique (TFT), which uses the unit tree cost formula to determine value.

You can obtain the tree unit costs from local resources—either a consulting arborist or the Regional Plant Appraisal Committee (RPAC), which includes industry experts associated with the local chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture. The RPAC determines unit costs for commonly available trees in your area, the tree’s obtainability, and their functional limitations in your area.

Hiring a Professional Makes Sense

Determining the value of a tree on your property is critical. To do it properly, however, requires training, expertise, and experience. So, evaluating the tree yourself may not be in your best interest. Ideally, you should hire a qualified professional to do the job. He or she will assign a value to your tree and then defend, explain, and support the results if there’s a dispute.

Buying a tree for your property shouldn’t be taken lightly. Trees provide numerous benefits to homeowners and communities, including functional, aesthetic, social, and environmental contributions. They also provide economic value to your home and property that you can express in dollars and sense. The value of a tree in economic terms, however, can be more than you think. So, make sure you consult a tree professional when buying a tree for your home or property. Doing so will pay off in the long run.

Are you confused about buying the right tree for your property? Then contact RI Tree at (401) 764-5885. We’ll help you choose a tree that makes sense for you and your property.

By: John Campanini, RITree Technical Director