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How Should I Take Care of a Cut Christmas Tree?

By Bronwyn Harris
Updated May 17, 2024
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Christmas trees are a wonderfully festive tradition that the whole family can enjoy. Although artificial Christmas trees are popular with many people, cut Christmas trees are still the traditional favorite, providing the pine smell that we have come to associate with Christmas. It is important, however, to take care of your Christmas tree so that it neither becomes a fire hazard nor makes a mess out of your house!

Christmas trees can be cut down by the person buying the tree, at a Christmas tree farm, or they can be purchased pre-cut at many lots in most cities. For people wanting the freshest cut Christmas tree possible, the Christmas tree farm is the way to go. Either way, it is important to get your cut Christmas tree into water as soon as possible, so that it doesn't dry out.

When you bring your cut Christmas tree home, you should slice off the end of the trunk, to allow the water to best be absorbed by the tree. If the end is not cut off, the tree will not get the water. Monitor the water level, adding more water when necessary, because if the tree dries out, you will have to cut another slice off of the trunk. Watering your tree will help it from becoming a fire hazard, as well as helping it preserve its good looks.

One of the disadvantages to a cut Christmas tree is that it will inevitably drop needles. If you vacuum up these needles once a day, even just using a hand-held vacuum, they are much less likely to be tracked into every room in the house. Breaking ornaments can cause a mess too, as well as be a hazard for small children, so make sure that glass and other breakable ornaments are not within reach of toddlers or pets.

Although a cut Christmas tree is a delight to have in the house, it can quickly become a fire hazard. Don't try to keep a tree too long, as it will become dried out and easy catch on fire. Also, Christmas tree lights should only be plugged in when someone is in the room, to reduce the risk of fire. Alternatives to cut Christmas trees are living trees that can be replanted, and artificial Christmas trees.

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Discussion Comments

By anon307624 — On Dec 06, 2012

We got one from a tree farm and I started to notice that it had been sprayed with some kind of green coloring. If you look at the underside of the branches it is very obvious. What's sad is I remember going to the very same farm when I was growing up and they had never been sprayed before.

By istria — On Dec 24, 2010

@ PelesTears- I much prefer the cut your own Christmas tree places over the seasonal stands set up just for the holidays. I find that trees that are shipped pre-cut are always a little dinged up, and you can never quite find one that is just right. I have bought a few trees from seasonal stands, and it seems I always end up with a tree with a crooked stump, uneven boughs, or even missing branches. I have never had a painted tree (I don’t think anyway), but I have bought a pre-wrapped tree that turned out to be missing a couple big branches. I tried to go back and complain, but the tree seller had already moved on to another site.

By PelesTears — On Dec 21, 2010

@ olittlewood- That sounds like a cheat to me. I have never heard of any Christmas tree stand doing this. I used to live in Vermont, and all of the tree growers that I knew of always prided themselves on growing healthy trees. I would be mad that I got a tree sprayed with paint myself. I would have probably brought it back and demanded my money back. What a total jerk move on the holidays. Maybe next time you should try to find a farm and cut your own Christmas tree.

By olittlewood — On Dec 20, 2007

one year, we bought a fresh christmas tree that had been sprayed with some sort of green paint. it wasn't very dry, but the fact that they did that really bothered me. because so many of those christmas tree lots are not lit very well, and you're picking them out at night, we couldn't see that it had been sprayed! do a lot of places do this? it seems like it's cheating!

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