It’s Christmas tree season in central New York and it should be a good year to cut your own.
It is not too early to go and find the perfect Christmas tree at central New York tree farms. Elizabeth Lamb, a plant breeding expert and senior extension associate with Cornell Cooperative Extension’s New York State Integrated Pest Management program, said just after Thanksgiving is one of the best times to go find the perfect tree.
“It is the most popular time to get a tree and I understand that because people’s families are here and sometimes it is a family tradition to pack everybody up, three generations and go out and find a tree,” Lamb said.
She said a good Christmas tree will have no problem lasting from now through the holiday season. Lamb said as long as your tree stays hydrated, it shouldn’t matter what kind you choose.
“I will always say the best kind of Christmas tree is the one that you like,” Lamb said. “Because you may go in there saying, ‘OK I want a Balsam,’ and come back with a Blue Spruce because you go there and it was like, ‘Oh, this is the tree that I love.”
Watering the cut Christmas tree regularly and keeping it away from heat vents will help keep it standing until January.
For those who may be concerned with how environmentally sustainable cutting your own Christmas tree may be, Lamb said the practice is not something to worry about.
“Christmas tree growing, it’s like an agricultural crop,” Lamb said. “So you cut a tree, but another tree is planted in the same place. Christmas tree growers are really good stewards of the land. They keep open land and they keep it managed, so it protects from invasive species comin' in and so forth.”
She said some municipalities even recycle trees, turning them into wood chips at the end of the season, making the tradition that much more sustainable.
