Perfectly Practical #89 - How to Water A Christmas Tree

  

I've written before about my fondness for real Christmas trees.   The biggest problem with a real tree is keeping it watered well enough. 

Let's face it, watering a tree is a pain in the patooti. 

First, you have to move the presents out of the way so they don't get soaked when your watering can or pitcher sloshes out over the top. 

Then you  may or may not be faced with wildlife who have hitch-hiked into your living room from the tree farm atop those sticky spikes. 

Those spikes are called n-e-e-d-l-e-s not feathers or fluffy bunnies with which you are being jabbed in the face as you army crawl under the tree. 

Oh....  I get it now.  These are the reasons why Engineer would prefer a fake tree. 

Here are a few tips to make life a little easier and to keep your tree from being nekid (yep, I said it) by the end of the month:

• Cut the bottom off an additional inch The first step to keeping your tree well watered happens before it gets in the stand.  Traditional fir and pine Christmas trees have lots of sap and whenever there is a cut in the tree, to preserve itself, it will sap over very rapidly.  Once your tree is home, and right before you put it in a tree stand, cut off an additional inch so that there is a fresh cut and the tree can wick away water much easier.
• Fill up the stand with water Before you put on any ornaments or anything else, get that freshly re-cut tree in the water so it can start wicking away water immediately. 
• Refill the stand with ice, not water  When you use ice, there is no worry of spilling water all over everything.
• Refill the stand everyday or at least every other day With that fresh cut on the bottom, your tree will soak up way more water, thus keeping it green and intact longer. 

This is part of Works for Me Wednesday.