Interesting about the shearing.
What's become a very big concern here with all cut-live (as contrasted to
artifical trees or real ones sprated with retardants) trees is the fire risk.
So all the tree stands now have a water resevoir. Good practice is to
re-cut the base to get rid of the resin plugged original cut and put it
immediately in the water resevoir and keep the resevoir replenished as long
as it the tree is inside the structure (mostly houses, most fire codes ban
real trees in commercial structures). The better the moisture content of the
foliage the higher the flash point and the safer the tree is.
The side benefit is needle retention. Spruces do quite well if kept watered.
And in fact needle retention is a surrogate safety test. If you can grasp a
twig and no needles come off in your hand OK. If a bunch come off, time to
pitch the thing into the garden.
Happy Christmas all.
Scott
----- Original Message -----
From: Jeremy Barrell
To: UK Tree Care
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2005 6:02 AM
Subject: re: Christmas trees
Although not that traditional in the UK, most species of pine are
regularly used as Christmas trees in other parts of the world because
they have good needle retention. As a very general rule, they are
better than spruces and not quite as good as most firs, with Nordmann
probably being the most needle secure. What is interesting with pines
is when they have to be sheared to produce a full and bushy form. They
have no internodal buds unlike firs and spruces and so pruning when they
are dormant does not produce a bushy tree. You have to get them just as
the soft shoot extension is finished in early summer. If the shoot is
cut when it is soft, it still has the ability to differentiate the
tissue below the cut to a mass of new buds, which then results in a very
bushy tree.
Jeremy
Barrell Tree Consultancy
Pullman Way Business Park
Ringwood
Hants BH24 1EX
Tel: 01425 475666
Fax: 01425 476491
Email: jeremy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.co.uk
Website: www.barrelltreecare.co.uk
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