5 proven Tips And Tricks To Make Your Christmas Tree Last Longer

Do you want to make your Christmas tree last longer? You don’t have to have to add sugar or cut it at an angle or drill holes in the trunk. Learn how to keep a free fresh for as long as possible (this one is up to 6 weeks, if it’s cared for properly) with these tried and tested tips.

If you are as enthusiastic about the holiday season as I am then you probably like to decorate your Christmas tree early, and that means bringing home a live tree soon after Thanksgiving and hoping it lasts for several weeks.

There are so many tricks to make a Christmas tree last longer, and this goes for a tree picked up at the local tree lot, or a tree cut down on a Christmas tree farm (or even out in the forest, as we love to do in central Oregon).

But none of the tricks I share below involve the advice you often hear for extending the bloom of cut flowers, like cutting the bottom at an angle or adding sugar (or molasses, aspirin, commercial preservatives, or other unnecessary additives) to the water.

In fact, the only one thing you will need to ensure a nice, long life for your tree is a clean-cut and plenty of water. 

Don’t believe me? Read on.

Here are the exact steps I take every year to keep our Christmas tree fresh and beautiful all month long.

How To Make Christmas Trees Last Longer?

1. Start with a Healthy Vibrant Tree

This is an especially important thing if you are buying a specimen from a tree lot, as the tree may have been cut a couple of weeks prior and transported a long distance to reach the vendor. Don’t be afraid to ask the vendor where the trees came from and how they were harvested. Before bringing a tree home, run your fingers along the branches, and look for soft, flexible needles that have a rich deep green color.

Dried out the trees will often have a bleached or pale olive-colored appearance. Check how many needles fall off right away. If it’s a lot, it’s a good indication that the tree is not as fresh as it should be.

Give the tree a good shake and watch for an excessive amount of needles that fall as well as signs of thinning or browning areas. If the tree has already started to dry out and has stiff, brittle needles, it won’t take up as much water, and a warm, cozy home will only exacerbate the problem. 

Weight also matters a heavy tree that means it retains a lot of water, helping it stay fresher longer.

If you are cutting your own tree, try to wait for a few hard touches of frost to happen first. This sends evergreen species into a state of dormancy so they are hardened and ready for winter. 

Their needles form a heavy, waxy coating called cutin to help prevent moisture loss, and they are less likely to react to sunlight and warm indoor temperatures. 

2. Give the Tree a Clean, Straight cut To The Bottom:

Chopping down your own tree ensures you have the freshest cut possible, assuming you don’t live more than a couple of hours away. This is just because it can take three to four hours for a seal of dried sap to form over the cut trunk, thereby hindering its ability to absorb water.

In particular, this is common with non-dormant trees and those that sit out in the sun for a while. If you are buying a tree from a tree lot, ask the vendors to make a fresh cut for you by slicing off a thin disk of wood from the trunk.

Or make the cut by yourself sawing an inch off the bottom in a straight line 

You have to cut a fresh even if you cut your tree just a few hours ago. 

Why? That is just because a tree is first cut and the air gets into the plant tissues and disrupts the tree’s ability to absorb water. Cutting the trunk again “primes” the tree, so to speak, so it can hydrate properly.

3. Get the Tree in Water when it comes to home

Home on the roof of your car or the bed of your truck can start to dry out even the freshest tree to the point where it needs water immediately. If you aren’t decorating the tree right away, place the trunk in a large bucket of water in a cool, shaded, sheltered spot like an unheated garage.

Trees can absorb as much as a gallon of water in the first 24 hours, so it’s crucial that your tree stays well hydrated.

As soon as you bring your tree home, set it up in a sturdy tree stand with a generous water reservoir that holds at least a gallon of water. You can use a stand that’s properly sized for your tree, as you want to avoid carving off the bark to fit the stand. It's those outer layers that help the tree absorb the most water. Without them, your tree will dry out sooner.

4. Keep it cool

As romantic as the idea of a beautifully lit Christmas tree by the fireplace is, it’s actually not the most ideal place to keep a tree. Heat sources such as fireplaces, wood stoves, space heaters, and radiators can often dry out a tree away from heating apparatuses and heating vents, and out of direct sunlight. If you love to have your tree in front of a window, try to avoid a south-facing window. 

5. Opt for LED lights

Believe it or not, the type of Christmas light you decorate your tree with can affect how long your tree lasts. Should you go incandescent or LED? Well, the important thing is here….

The new holiday lights emit very little heat, which keeps your tree from drying out too quickly and also reduces the risk of fire.

These LED lights are inexpensive, energy-efficient, don’t burn out, and last a long time, and the most modern LED lights come in a “warm white”. For all these reasons you have to replace your LEDs instead of these lights.