If you bought a live Christmas tree in a jar, after the holidays you can easily transplant it into your garden or yard. However, there is a certain care for the Christmas tree until the moment you decide to transplant it, which you need to pay attention to so that the Christmas tree continues to grow.
Namely, when Christmas is over, pine should not be kept near heating elements such as fireplaces, radiators and stoves, because in its natural habitat it grows in extremely cold conditions. If you keep pine next to any heat source, no one can guarantee that it will survive because it dries out too much and runs out of moisture too quickly.
You have to find a solution, that is, a place where the pine will be at least three meters away from the heat source. If you have no other choice, it would be a good idea to water the pine with at least two deciliters of water every two days, directly in the bucket where it grows.
Find out below how and when to transplant a Christmas tree and how to care for it before and after planting in the yard or garden.
When to transplant a pine tree after the holidays
It is possible to transplant a Christmas tree into nature in two parts of the year, in autumn or in spring. It is mandatory to transplant the pine tree when it is not in the process of growth. The ideal stage for transplanting is when you notice bright green needles on the pine and tips that start to bud on the tips of the branches.
In the nursery, buy a tree in a container or directly from the nursery, whose sod is wrapped in jute. Such a tree can be kept in the house for about 10 days. It is good to place it next to a window where it will have a little cooler air and enough light. When buying, it would be good to choose the size of the wrinkle that you will be able to handle more easily. In addition, the tree should not remain in a heated and closed space for too long, it should also be watered regularly and the space should not be heated too much.
After Christmas, it is not recommended to immediately move the pine to an open place, but it should be placed in a slightly cooler place than the space in which the pine was when it had its function. The best places to store pine trees before planting are the garage or hallway, because these spaces are always five to ten degrees cooler than the living spaces in our apartments and houses, which we heat. Place it in a container that is plastic or metal, and the bottom of the container is covered with gravel that serves as drainage.
When the ideal time for transplanting the Christmas tree comes, choose the appropriate place where you want to plant the Christmas tree in the garden or yard. The place should not be too acidic or too sandy, and ideal for planting pine would be a blackberry that has enough moisture. Places next to rivers, streams or near arable fields are swampy soils and such places should be avoided because most of the year they are soaked with water or even completely under water.
It is important to prepare the pit in which the pine will be planted before the ground freezes, and it must be twice as wide as the size of the sod. After that, it is covered with straw or some kind of ground cover. Cover the earth that you have dug up with nylon or a tarp.
When the first warmer days begin, plant the tree in a pre-prepared pit, fill it in and water it well. The surface of the earth should be protected with a thicker layer of straw or some kind of ground cover, and in case of very cold winters, the tree should be protected with a jute sack because young trees are very sensitive to extreme temperatures in the first year.
Planting pine from a jar
Pine must be planted firmly, flat and on moderately moist but fertile soil. The pine is planted so that the last tip of the root is just under the ground, and the previous depth of the tree is tried to be seen, and it is planted in the same way as it was planted before extraction. Pine roots are not cut and must be underground. Otherwise, the pine could dry out.
The pine should be planted completely straight in the hole, which is slightly larger than the size of the bucket in which the pine is now located. You must not put any kind of fertilizer in the hole under the pine tree because it could destroy its roots, and you can add a little soil for flowers or a little sedge to the hole if you want. If the pine is not planted straight at the beginning, over the years the stem and trunk of the pine will be slanted. After the pine has been planted, tamp the soil around the pine well and water it abundantly.
We all have the habit of cutting the top if we have a tall pine tree, if it is too tall for us or if we want to put a decoration on the top itself. But we don’t think about the fact that if we cut off the top of the pine seedling we bought, it will no longer grow tall, even though it will survive. The moment you cut off the top, it will start growing irregularly in height and will have several irregular tips. For some, this effect is very attractive as a decoration in the garden, and some are disappointed with the live pine, although they are not at all aware of what happened.
It would be better to choose a shorter pine when buying if you are not sure that it will fit in your house or apartment. You also don’t have to use decorations that require the top to be cut off, but you can use decorative ribbons and decorations that can be tied to any top of the pine. Their choice can be really different, from sizes to colors, and sometimes they can look even more attractive than just a decoration stuck on top of a pine tree.
Large coniferous trees will have problems in a small garden, so dwarf, slow-growing ornamental firs and conifers are preferred in the garden. Larger stones are placed around them to create the impression of a rocky slope, and they can be lit with a wide-spectrum light bulb to create a real forest feel and ambiance.
How to care for pine after planting
After you have planted a pine tree, it will certainly not change its appearance for at least one year because this is the period in which the pine tree stagnates. For one to two years, new branches and needles will not grow on the pine, which is normal and you should not worry about it.
It is recommended to add artificial fertilizer once or twice a year, about one deciliter or one handful.
If you have planted a pine in a very dry area, then it is necessary to water it occasionally, and it is enough to do it once a month. If the soil around the pines dissolves from the heat, fill the holes with new soil, and the grass around the pines needs to be mowed regularly because it could get tangled around the pine branches and thus bend the branches.
If you are in doubt whether to have a real Christmas tree or an artificial Christmas tree, consider all the possibilities that a real Christmas tree offers. A real holiday atmosphere and the smell of pine that spreads throughout the premises during the holidays. In addition, real natural Christmas trees are often cheaper than artificial counterparts. The greenest and most acceptable solution for the holidays is to buy a real live pine, because you can plant it in the garden afterwards and extend its life. In this way, you will return it to nature, and at the same time you will avoid putting Christmas trees in landfills that are full of discarded Christmas trees after the holidays.
Photo: _Alicja_/Pixabay