{"id":19795,"date":"2021-12-08T14:33:52","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T19:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/?p=19795"},"modified":"2026-04-03T12:13:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T16:13:36","slug":"how-to-keep-your-christmas-tree-fresh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/2021\/12\/how-to-keep-your-christmas-tree-fresh\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Keep Your Christmas Tree Fresh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n<p>The holiday season is here once again, and you&#8217;ve just purchased your first real Christmas tree. While this can be a wonderful tradition, it can also be a challenge if you don&#8217;t know how to keep your tree fresh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Below, with some help from NC State <meta charset=\"utf-8\"><\/meta>extension forestry specialist Jeff Owen, we&#8217;ve compiled a list of tips that will help keep your Christmas tree fresh throughout the holiday season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>5 Tips for Keeping a Fresh Christmas Tree<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Before putting your tree into a stand, cut half an inch or more off the trunk. This exposes the vessels so that the tree can take up water more easily.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Once cut, you should immediately put your tree in a stand with plain water only. The stand&#8217;s reservoir should be large enough to hold at least a gallon of water. Check it daily and keep it full throughout the holiday season.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Preservatives and other additives won\u2019t extend the life of your Christmas tree. No matter what the label says, plain water is best. Well-hydrated trees will resist burning if there&#8217;s an electrical fire.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To keep your tree from drying out, you should avoid displaying it near heat sources like air vents, fireplaces, wood stoves and even sunny windows.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you want to avoid an electrical fire, you should use LED lights that use less than 5% of the electrical demand on receptacles compared to incandescent bulbs. You should also inspect your lights regularly and unplug them when you leave the house or go to sleep.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>For more information, visit NC&nbsp;State Extension\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/christmastrees.ces.ncsu.edu\/\">Christmas tree portal<\/a>&nbsp;and follow the team on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/NCSU-Christmas-Trees\/190044161008761\">Facebook<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"<!-- wp:ncst\/dynamic-header {\"block\":\"ncst\/default-post-header\"} -->\n<!-- wp:ncst\/default-post-header {\"caption\":\"Photo by Andre Gorham via Unsplash\",\"displayCategoryID\":115} \/-->\n<!-- \/wp:ncst\/dynamic-header -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The holiday season is here once again, and you've just purchased your first real Christmas tree. While this can be a wonderful tradition, it can also be a challenge if you don't know how to keep your tree fresh. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Below, with some help from NC State <meta charset=\"utf-8\"><\/meta>extension forestry specialist Jeff Owen, we've compiled a list of tips that will help keep your Christmas tree fresh throughout the holiday season.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3,\"levelOptions\":[2,3,4,5,6]} -->\n<h3><strong>5 Tips for Keeping a Fresh Christmas Tree<\/strong><\/h3>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:list -->\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Before putting your tree into a stand, cut half an inch or more off the trunk. This exposes the vessels so that the tree can take up water more easily.\u00a0<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Once cut, you should immediately put your tree in a stand with plain water only. The stand's reservoir should be large enough to hold at least a gallon of water. Check it daily and keep it full throughout the holiday season.\u00a0<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Preservatives and other additives won\u2019t extend the life of your Christmas tree. No matter what the label says, plain water is best. Well-hydrated trees will resist burning if there's an electrical fire.<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>To keep your tree from drying out, you should avoid displaying it near heat sources like air vents, fireplaces, wood stoves and even sunny windows.<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>If you want to avoid an electrical fire, you should use LED lights that use less than 5% of the electrical demand on receptacles compared to incandescent bulbs. You should also inspect your lights regularly and unplug them when you leave the house or go to sleep.<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><\/ul>\n<!-- \/wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>For more information, visit NC&nbsp;State Extension\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/christmastrees.ces.ncsu.edu\/\">Christmas tree portal<\/a>&nbsp;and follow the team on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/NCSU-Christmas-Trees\/190044161008761\">Facebook<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>These simple tips will help keep your Christmas tree fresh throughout the holiday season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"featured_media":19808,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"caption\":\"Photo by Andre Gorham via Unsplash\",\"displayCategoryID\":115}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[115,1,102],"tags":[43,362],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-19795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hidden-blog","category-hidden-news","category-hidden-newswire","tag-extension-and-outreach","tag-forestry-and-environmental-resources"],"displayCategory":{"term_id":115,"name":"Blog","slug":"hidden-blog","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":115,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":28,"filter":"raw"},"acf":{"ncst_posts_meta_modified_date":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19795"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41698,"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19795\/revisions\/41698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19795"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=19795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}