S03:E11 Winter Garden Chores and Holiday Tree Tips

Hello Listener, 

It is almost 2023, but you can still do some chores in your garden this year. In this episode, we talk about the winter garden chores Rachel has been doing, and Mikaela and Emily have been putting off. We also talk holiday plant care (16:00), including caring for living trees (19:00) and fresh cut trees (28:10).  

Link to our survey: go.umd.edu/gardenthyme

The effect of Christmas lights on trees: NPR Science Friday. 

Thank you all for listening. See you next year! 

- Mikaela, Rachel & Emily 

If you have any garden-related questions, please email us at UMEGardenPodcast@gmail.com or look us up on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GardenThymePodcas. For more information about UME and these topics, please check out the UME Home and Garden Information Center and Maryland Grows Blog at https://marylandgrows.umd.edu/. 

 The Garden Thyme Podcast is brought to you by the University of Maryland Extension. Hosts are Mikaela Boley- Senior Agent Associate (Talbot County) for Horticulture, Rachel Rhodes- Agent Associate for Horticulture (Queen Anne's County), and Emily Zobel-Senior Agent Associate for Agriculture (Dorchester County).

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We currently have an open survey for ALL listeners. Whether you’ve listened to all of our episodes, or this is your first time. We developed an evaluation to determine if the information we share on the podcast has made a difference in your practices at home. We promise that it is a short, easy 5-minute survey, and we even have exclusive podcast stickers to give to those who participate. We are so thankful for the feedback, and we appreciate you tuning in for the podcast!

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If you have any garden-related questions, please email us at UMEGardenPodcast@gmail.com or look us up on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GardenThymePodcas.

For more information about UME and these topics, please check out the UME Home and Garden Information Center and Maryland Grows Blog at https://marylandgrows.umd.edu/.

The Garden Thyme Podcast is brought to you by the University of Maryland Extension. Hosts are Mikaela Boley- Principal Agent Associate (Talbot County) for Horticulture; Rachel Rhodes- Senior Agent Associate for Horticulture (Queen Anne's County); and Emily Zobel- Senior Agent Associate for Agriculture (Dorchester County).

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University programs, activities, and facilities are available to all wit...

Chapters

• 1:40 December garden chores
• 16:00 Hoilday plant tips
• 19:00 caring for living trees
• 28:10 fresh cut trees tips

Transcript

Episode: S03:E11 Winter Garden Chores and Holiday Tree Tips

Note: The Garden Thyme Podcast is produced for the ear and is designed to be heard. If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.  

: Up beat music: 

Rachel:
Welcome to the University of Maryland Extension Presents, the Garden Thyme Podcast, where we talk about getting down and dirty in your garden, we are your hosts. I'm Rachel.

Mikaela:
I'm Mikaela.

Emily:
And I'm Emily.

Rachel:
In this month's episode, we're talking about winter garden care and holiday plants.

Mikaela:
Before we get started on today's episode, we have a huge favor to ask. Whether you've listened to all of our episodes or even if this is your first time, we've developed an evaluation to find out if the information that we share on the podcast has made a difference in your practices at home. We promise it's a very short, easy, five minute survey, and we even have exclusive podcast stickers to give to those who participate.

Emily:

OOH, stickers are fun.

Rachel:

They can go on your water bottle 

Mikaela:

  Emily, Rachel and I are so thankful for your feedback, and we appreciate you tuning in for the podcast. You can find the survey at go. UMD.EDU/gardenthyme and that's garden T-H-Y-M-E. We wil also include the link to the survey in the show notes, as well as share it on our Facebook page.

: Up beat music: 

Rachel: 

Winter is here, but there are still some tasks you can do in your garden on a nice day to help your plants overwinter and to keep your garden looking nice. As you guys know, I am the queen of the five P's. Proper planning and preparation prevents poor performance. That's like seven, right?

Emily:

Proper plant. Yeah, I lost count there, but that's a lot of p's.

Mikaela:

You're over prepared with all your "P's".

Emily:

Yes, you are. I feel like I'm under prepared every year.

Mikaela:

Absolutely.

Emily:

I just cleaned out my raised beds over Thanksgiving weekend.

Mikaela:

Oh, man.

Emily:

Yeah. I feel like I'm always bad at this. So I'm glad that we're going over these tips and things to do now.

Rachel:

Yeah. So we all have tools that we use in our garden. So it's a great time for you to look at your pruners, your loppers, your shovels and spades, even your mower blades, and to make sure that when you store them, they are cleaned, sharpened, and oiled. So, cleaning our stuff, just make sure you're disinfecting it with like, a ten to one solution of bleach to water. So one part bleach, nine parts water, and then just spray it, wipe all the debris off, get it nice and oiled and sharpened. And there are some local businesses that you can contact to see if they will sharpen your tools for you. But you can also do it yourself with a metal file or sharpening stone or even a rod. But making sure those tools are sharp and clean and getting them ready for the next season really can help in the long run.

Mikaela:

And this is particularly important, especially for pruners and loppers, because winter is often the time that we do a lot of our Pruning or when we should be doing our Pruning, when a lot of things have gone dormant. So you definitely want those edges to be nice and sharp.

Rachel:

And making clean cuts and disinfecting is incredibly important to make sure that you're not introducing disease into those cuts when you're pruning during the winter.

Emily:

In addition to our normal tools, this is also a great time if you have not done so already, to make sure that you've winterized any water fixtures. So unplugging any hoses and rolling them up. I know that we've had sort of a very mild fall so far, so a lot of us have continued to water freshly planted things, but at this point, now that we're in December, it's starting to get cold. So best to go ahead and unhook and store all of those so that you don't damage your hoses and then take inventory of what you possibly will need for next year with regards to either equipment that maybe, possibly needs to be replaced as well as things like if you have a hose that maybe is like mine and it's kind of been skewed together with duct taped. Possibly something to consider getting a new one for next year.

Mikaela:

Oh no, I do the same thing. I'm very cheap with hoses mostly. I just don't want to carry them away or dispose of them, so yeah, I understand.

Rachel:

Yeah, I can't tell you how many hoses I've fixed because they're expensive and it's relatively cheap to fix them. If you watch a couple of YouTube videos and you can figure it out, they're super easy to fix.

Emily:

So speaking of things to dispose of, another thing that this is the perfect time to do is to go through and check any of the pesticides that you possibly have. And as we're getting ready to go into those cold temperatures, now is the time to check to see where your pesticide containers are located and whether or not they're likely to freeze where they are, as freezing will reduce the effectiveness of them for next year. If you have some that are old or you don't think are effective or you purchase them and have used them and have now treated and don't want them because of the risk of kids or pets or so forth, you can reach out to your local county's household hazard waste collection to see where the site is and when they do their collection.

Mikaela:

If you've staked any new trees, make sure that their ties have a little bit of wiggle room and that the bark isn't being abraded, which basically means to make sure that if there's a tube or a piece of wire, that it isn't digging into the bark, because that is the living part of the tree. And you certainly don't want it damaged, especially when it's brand new. So steaks that have been in place for six to twelve months can actually just be removed altogether. They've done their job by now, or maybe they didn't even work in the first place, but now they've done enough growing where staking has not made a difference anymore. So it's better to remove those wires or those stays. Even the wide webbing can cause damage over time if you leave them. But what you can do for your younger trees is keep watering, especially if we're going through a dry period. It has been relatively dry this fall, so keep watering until the ground freezes, at which point that water is kind of locked up. And pay attention, like I said, to those trees and shrubs that may be newly planted or still relatively young because they are going to use that moisture in order to get through winter.

Mikaela:

And believe it or not, trees still can lose water and they can still transpire even though it's cold outside.

Emily:

So I am adamantly known for being a container gardener, so if you have party plants that are containers that you're overwintering, you want to do a few things for them. So you do want to continue to water them until it's freezing, but if you anticipate it coming up on that, you want to avoid watering them a few days or so before it's freezing. And you want to make sure that you put them either on pot feed or other things to lift them up to help with that water drainage. Because these plants are much more at risk for having root damage due to freezing because that water doesn't have any place to drain out, especially if your plant is sitting directly on, say, a porch or patio. Get something either traditional pot fleet or bricks or something, and just raise them up a little bit so that they continue to drain throughout the winter as you're watering them until we get to those freezing temperatures.

Rachel:

Do you have any pots that you've cleared out and that you're just going to leave bare for the winter? You want to make sure that you move those into your garage or a nice protected area so they're not subject to that freeze fall cycle so that they don't crack.

Emily:

That's a good point, Rachel, because I've definitely lost some of the clay pots because I had them in other containers and they got filled with water when it snowed and then they cracked because of the ice.

Rachel:

I've had several crack because I've let them go to that freeze fall cycle. They crack so much easier when they have that temperature fluctuation.

Mikaela:

So you can also still trim hollies and other evergreens, especially if you plan on using some of that material for holiday decorations. They're often very popular. However, you don't want to do a very heavy pruning. And we say heavy pruning is anything where you're cutting over a third of the campy, so a third of what's growing, partly because this stresses the tree out. And those evergreens are still growing through winter and still photosynthesizing, more so than the deciduous trees, which don't have any leaves right now. But then new growth will also not have a chance to harden off before winter. It's also still a really good time to malt your landscape and I think we can do a PSA, so to speak, about leaving the leaves. Most people have either gathered them up or gotten rid of them at this point. But if you can leave leaves in place and try not to cut them up too much because there are so many insects and other critters that overwinter in the leaves, especially for winter, they're really dependent on that thick Duffy kind of layer. And I think people don't understand how leaves break down so quickly.

Mikaela:

And so it might seem like a really thick layer that you're mulching your beds with, but that breaks down so quickly, especially if it's something like maple leaves or pretty much anything other than Oakley's. Oak leaves can kind of stay thick, but even they break down over time. So please mulch those leaves or keep them on site. And if you do any other mulching, apply only like two to three inches deep around ornamental plants, making sure everything's kind of kept away from the tree trunks and the base of the plants. You don't want things up against that bark layer. So leaves, pine needles, pine cones are also great free mulch and they add nutrients back to the beds. I know a lot of people still think that pine needles acidify the soil, but that's actually been debunked. That's not true. That's kind of an urban myth. So don't be afraid to use them. They are great mulch and they look nice too. And you can just spread them anywhere in the garden in the fall and early winter. If you have to turn things under in the spring, you can. But I think the soil benefits a lot more from kind of like layering mulching instead of tilling and moving things around in the soil.

Mikaela:

So it will really benefit you in the long run and you can just kind of continue to renew your soil and make sure that you're growing great things.

Rachel:

I like to add some pine cones around those tender perennials that I know the squirrels kind of love because they don't kind of like the prickliness of the pine cone. It protects them a little bit longer until they get up high enough where they're like, oh yeah, I can still dig this out. But it gives that added layer of protection for my hostas or tulips, those type of perennials.

Emily:

So a nice sunny day is also a great time to re edge or edge your flower beds. And this is a great way to help kind of work on spreading out those flower beds as well as keeping them neat and tidy. And I will be the first to say I hate edging. It's my least favorite thing to do, but I actually find that in the winter when I'm like house bound and I'm itching to get outside and do something, I don't mind doing it. And maybe that's because I'll just do like  or  minutes of it and then I'll call it a day and go back inside. But as someone with wire grass, I actually find that it's easier to edge my wire grass areas in the winter when the grass isn't actively growing. And maybe that's because it lasts longer, because it's not growing, it's going to last. Now in December, it looks nice all throughout the winter, so maybe that's part of it too. But again, if you're feeling a little like, stir crazy, you just need to get out. It's something you're going to have to do in the spring. So if you preemptively, do it now and you can still all the grass bits to shake off, you can shake the soil off and you can toss them into your compost pile.

Rachel:

I hate Edging. I hate it. It's like the worst job of it.

Mikaela:

But speaking of grass, in Maryland, we are prohibited from fertilizing lawns. We're now in the blackout period, so anything containing nitrogen or phosphorus, you are not allowed to spread on hard scapes or soft scapes from November  through March . Not that you should ever put fertilizers on hardscapes, but we do know that it used to be an old practice using fertilizers to melt ice and snow on walkways, so please don't do that. I know we've done an episode on that before, so I won't talk about it. But they should never be used to melt ice on driveways, other paved surfaces. All of those fertilizers on hard scapes can actually be easily washed into our waterways and create a problem. So you don't want to do that.

Rachel:

Lastly, as long as our soil isn't frozen, it's a really great time to do a soil test.

Emily:

I don't think there's ever a time when we're going to tell people not to do a soil test unless there's like a foot of snow and your.

Mikaela:

Soil if the ground isn't frozen, you.

Rachel:

Can still do it. You know, the only time that I.

Mikaela:

Really don't hammer, you could get it loose.

Rachel:

I really feel like you really can do a soil test. The only time I really don't like it when people bring in soil tests or when it's like rain to three inches and they bring me mud and I'm like, ugh, I could have waited to dry it out. Just this minchy.

Emily:

So not in the middle of a rainstorm and not when your ground is frozen, but any other time of the year, you can take a soil test.

Rachel:

I think the key thing to remember when doing a soil test is to use a lab. Don't buy an at home kit from a big box store and select a lab in your region so that they can give you region specific recommendations. And soil tests are incredibly important because we need to make sure that we're making the right decisions about our garden with accurate information. So amending with the proper amount of nitrogen or calcium and magnesium and checking our soil PH. Those are all the things that a soil test lab is going to be able to tell you.

Mikaela:

I think the only drawback to getting your soil test done in the winter is that most people see the results and want to act on those results and start doing those amendments or nutrient additives, and you can't or I wouldn't, so just take it easy. But then you'll be really ready in the spring for when it is time to start making all those changes.

Rachel:

If you have a raised bed vegetable garden area, it's imperative to test each bed. You're not going to mix all of those samples together and do a composite. You're going to test each bed to see what's going on in each bed. To see if each bed has to be amended because it's own little micro.

Emily:

Environment and to learn more about soil testing and to see a list of soil testing labs that are available in the middle antic area. You can check out the University of Maryland Extension's Home and Garden Information Center's website. For those of our listeners who are not located in Maryland, we recommend that you reach out to your local extension office for a similar list of local labs in your area. So along with winter and the cold, I think most of us think of December as the holiday season. So we're going to talk a little bit now about caring for those holiday plants that you potentially could be buying for your own house or giving as gifts or receiving as gifts. So it's worth noting that before buying any plant, whether it's a holiday plant or even plants during the normal kind of growing season that you're thinking about getting for your yard or for your house, but you do want to go ahead and check them in the store before you bring them home. So you want to make sure that they're healthy and don't have any hitchhikers. And those of us who have been long term listeners can remember Rachel's Epic mealy bug infestation from, what, ?

Rachel:

I think. So it started in  and went into .

Mikaela:

Her mealy bug quest.

Emily:

Yeah, I think you got it. What, holiday season of ? And we heard about it through the whole first six months of .

Rachel:

Yeah, mealy bugs. I hate them.

Emily:

Yes. So you do want to check any plants that you're getting, especially the ones at the big box stores, because a lot of times they're getting them in and then they're putting them out like within the next day or so. And their staff a lot of times doesn't have time to check for these. But in addition to checking for hitchhikers in the case of insects or diseases, you also want to go ahead and check the root structure of the plants that you're buying just to make sure that you're getting a high value plant hasn't been overwatered or underwater. So when you pick it up, does it feel excessively light for what it should be or does it feel excessively heavy? Especially a lot of these holiday plants that come in, the decorative pots that don't drain. You may want to take it out of the decorative pot and look at the actual pot with the drainage and even possibly slide it out and take a look at the roots if you can. So for cut flowers, specifically reefs, which are really popular right now, if you are getting a boxwood reef, you'd want to check the boxwood for symptoms of boxwood blight.

Emily:

And you can check the University of Maryland extensions home and garden information center for details on what that is. A lot of times you won't start noticing it until later in. So if you do get a boxwood reef, it's one of the few things we don't recommend putting in your compost bin that should actually get disposed of after the holiday season into your normal trash because we don't want boxwood to spread.

Mikaela:

It's where all boxwoods balloon it is in the past.

Rachel:

Garbage in the past.

Mikaela:

Sorry. Cut that out.

Emily:

Our local high school does homemade reads that they sell to help support their horticulture program. And every year I jokingly tell their teacher just to send the students over to my house and just cut my boxes down to them because I repeatedly don't want them, but I'm too lazy to cut them out myself. And she hasn't, she doesn't do it yet. So I think I might just go ahead and I'm going to rip them out in the spring. There you go.

Mikaela:

Now we are well into the season of getting a Christmas tree. And while we have talked about Christmas tree care before, I think it's good to kind of reiterate, especially when it comes to living trees. Living Christmas trees, I mean, because they're becoming more and more popular, which is great. But that being said, you know, living trees like Colorado blue spruce might make a great Christmas tree, but they certainly do not stand our heat and humidity when it comes time for summer. So they are not really a good choice for a long term evergreen tree investment. If you're looking at something that you're trying to plant back outside, I think.

Rachel:

The key there is the name Colorado.

Mikaela:

Exactly.

Rachel:

Is the environment in Colorado equal to the environment in Maryland? And if it's not, then you shouldn't plant it as a living tree.

Mikaela:

So a lot of people think that just because the tree is containerized, that means that it is something that can be left inside, much like a house plant, but it actually is not. It's not meant to be in those pots for long term. Just like you think about trees outside having elaborate root systems, so should our evergreens. And so being in that small pot for the big canopy is just not a good longterm solution. So the exception to this rule might be the Norfolk pine, which does make an excellent indoor Christmas tree for somebody who doesn't want to go cut a tree. But that is one that does not go outside indefinitely because it really can't withstand our type of temperatures in the winter. But it is a nice alternative, especially if you want something that's alive for.

Rachel:

Your chemistry and your cats won't like it either. It's so pointy. Neither were your toddlers.

Mikaela:

They can get big.

Rachel:

They do get really big really quick. Somebody gave us one at the office probably like nine years ago and that thing touches the ceiling now.

Mikaela:

So a containerized living Christmas tree should remain outside until just before Christmas. Trees should only be kept inside for about four to five days total. And the reason we don't want them indoors for an indefinite amount of time is they may start to break their winter dormancy, which makes them very vulnerable and start to grow indoors. And then you can't put it back outside for the winter because it'll be too vulnerable to the elements. So find a shady location or stored on the north side of the building out of direct sunlight until it's the proper time for planting them.

Rachel:

My parents always did this when we were growing up. We would have a living Christmas tree that would be in a container. My dad would literally dig it up probably three days before Christmas and then we would bring it in the house and decorate it. And then two days after Christmas it would be back outside and planted.

Mikaela:

Also remember, because we love to talk about this amongst ourselves, check your live Christmas tree for praying manted egg cases and other insects before bringing them inside the house because guess what? When those egg cases start to warm up, you could have a baby praying mantis problem on your hands. And while it might be great fun for your cats, it's probably not great fun for human beings.

Emily:

I mean, I've done this before. You end up finding baby Pray mantises everywhere.

Mikaela:

Oh my God.

Emily:

But if you are having friends and family over for holiday parties and you have friends and family that do not like insects, it's probably not ideal.

Mikaela:

I was going to say it's a great conversation starter as an entomologist. Not so much for a Christmas party. Although I'll be honest, I would not mind if I came over to your house for a party and there were like little prank mantis running around.

Emily:

I think people forget that when they hatch, they're super tiny, very teeny, very tiny. And in all likelihood, most of them just running around your house, they're not going to survive.

Mikaela:

And what's better than a bunch of little pray mantids running around is a bunch of dead mantids around.

Emily:

It's better to go ahead and check for those eight cases and if you find one on your tree, just clap the branch that it's on off, stick it someplace outside, and they'll hatch in the spring. And then you'll have them in your garden to help take care of whatever other pesky insects are out there.

Mikaela:

So coming back to live Christmas trees. Sorry, I really diverged our conversation. But when the tree is ready to be planted, which will probably be, like early spring, when you want to remove the entire container and the root flare, which is where the base of the trunk starts to flare out into the roots, should be at the ground level or slightly higher if you plant it too low. That's just an invitation for water to kind of sit and collect. Most trees don't really want to sit in that water, but you do want to water those newly planted trees well and use straw or some other kind of organic mulch around it. So this will slow the ground from freezing, allow the roots to kind of acclimate and protect it when the temperatures are kind of volatile in the early season. And the first year after the tree is planted is important to long term success. So making sure that it's kind of babied through that first year. And the tough part about evergreens, as I think we've talked about before, is that you don't always notice the symptoms until way after they've started to occur, because evergreens, of course, are green and they hold on to their needles for a very long time before you recognize that they might be in distress.

Mikaela:

And then when they start to lose their needles, likely it's too late. So you try and get ahead of those problematic times of the year where you're watering when it's dry or mulching it to keep it kind of protected. And so, again, when spring comes, just plan on watering things regularly as needed to supplement for rainfall. Chances are in the spring, you probably won't need to water because our springs tend to be a little bit rainier, but certainly keep an eye on it through summer.

Emily:

So I know we'd mentioned that the Colorado blue spruce is not a good living one to purchase for Christmas tree. If you're planning to plant it outside for a long term, if you want it to get one to plant outside and have it as a tree that's actually going to be in your yard long term, do you guys have some better recommendations for species?

Mikaela:

So I know it won't be a popular one, but there are a couple of native options. Technically, white pines are native to Maryland. They are often in a very different form out in the natural environment, because when you grow them for Christmas trees, they are pruned very tightly to have that kind of conical shape. So those actually make really great live trees because they should be fairly well adapted for Maryland red cedars as well. Very well adapted for a variety of conditions. They're not just not always the most popular species to choose, but if you want longevity, if you want something that's going to survive and contribute back to the environment, that's definitely a great one. Canaan fur is a new kind of popular Christmas tree. I'm not sure about balsam FIRs. Some of the more like popular standard ones probably won't do very well in our climates just because we are too far south. I don't know about you guys. Have you tried any other species or know of any others?

Rachel:

No, I was going to go with the eastern red cedar. It's a great little hardy plant. The only downside of using it as a living tree is it's kind of prickly, especially those younger ones. They have that spiny little ends, so people might not like them, but they're great little tree to use, and they're beautiful as they age.

Mikaela:

And, you know, this might be a little alternative as an option, but even holly trees are native, the American holly, not the varieties. So that might also be an option. I know those aren't the traditional kind of needle appearances we're used to, but the Southern wax myrtle is also, I think, would make a kind of cool alternative Christmas tree. If you were looking for something that was evergreen, it smells great, so you know you're good in that regard, and it's something you can plant outside when you're done. And it handles our growing conditions a lot better than a lot of the other Christmas trees. So that might be nice if you were looking to step out of the norm.

Rachel:

Yes, those are great suggestions.

Emily:

Awesome.

Mikaela:

I think try that. Now that I think about it, I kind of want to try that because I want a Southern wax myrtle. Maybe I'll buy one and dress it up as a Christmas tree inside for a while and then take it outside.

Rachel:

Yeah, well, I'm going to need pictures of that.

Mikaela:

Yeah, I think I might do that.

Emily:

Go for it.

Mikaela:

I've been meaning to buy one for a while.

Rachel:

All right, so we've talked about live Christmas trees and how to take care of a living Christmas tree, but another popular option is buying a cut tree. When you buy a cut tree, you want to make sure that you have the proper stand with the appropriate water holding capacity. And for most Christmas trees, the stand should hold at least a gallon of water. A cut tree will absorb a surprising amount of water, particularly in the first week. So you need to check it daily and water it daily. And make sure when you're checking it daily, that the level of water does not go below the base of the tree. And the tree stand should fit your tree. Some tree stands have circular rings at the top, so the ring must be large enough for the trunk to go through that hole and avoid kind of whittling it. Down so the sides of the trunk fit in a stand. The outer layers of wood are the most efficient in taking up water and that should not be removed if the tree is stored for more than a couple of days before it is advisable to place that trunk and water and store it in a cool, shaded and protected area, such as an unheated garage or even on the north side of your house.

Rachel:

If the tree has been cut within the past  hours, it's not necessary to recut the trunk. But if it's been stored for longer than  hours since harvest, you want to make sure that you cut the trunk I think it's about an inch in order to improve that water uptake once you put it in the stand.

Emily:

So we do have a great list of some cut Christmas tree mythbusting. So along with that idea of cutting, a lot of people have heard to cut it at an angle or to cut it in a V shape in order to make it so that the water availability to the tree is better. And that is actually a myth. You should not do it. You want to cut it flat, and this ideally helps it stand better in your stand. But having it at an angle or that V doesn't change your tree's ability to take up water. So just a flat cut will work just fine. You do not want to add water holding gel to your tree stand. This actually does the opposite. Because that gel absorbs the water, it makes it unavailable for the tree. Now, when you have plants in soil, those gels will slowly release the water back. But in this case, the gels are just going to how old? On to the water, and then the water is going to evaporate off of the gels. So it's counterproductive to what you want to do, which is maintain your tree's health through letting it have water to absorb.

Mikaela:

I have never heard of that, but I can totally see people trying to try that out. It's actually kind of a smart train of thought. Except it doesn't work.

Emily:

Yes, it doesn't. Stimuli I would not recommend, even if it's a cut tree, I would not like put soil in your stand and do that either. Like just straight up normal tap water. If you want to let your tap water sit overnight so the chlorine dissipates, that's fine. But most Christmas trees are large enough in size that that's not going to even matter. Your water does not need to be room temperature. It does not need to be hot. It does not need to be cold. Your tree will take up the water no matter what the temperature is. I wouldn't use boiling hot water, but it can be straight out of your tap and that's perfectly fine. Drilling a hole in the base of your trunk does not improve its water uptake either. So again, flat cut right across the bottom. That's all you need. Do not apply antitranspiration tape or spray to the tree, as this will significantly reduce kind of the rate of moisture and the health of your tree. And to my knowledge, this is just something that you spray on your tree and it's supposed to prevent it from doing transpiration, which actually, studies have shown, dries out your tree faster.

Mikaela:

So I had to look it up because I didn't know what it was. But apparently an antitransparent is basically like a film that gets sprayed. It's often advertised for house plants, I think, to help with those that are dependent on like, high humidity and more tropical plants, but doesn't necessarily apply or work for cut trees. It's really interesting.

Emily:

It's another thing like the gels where I'm sure someone's thought, I've never thought of it, or, hey, I use this for this plant, I might as well try it on my Christmas tree. But again, you don't need to spend your money on these kinds of things. Just basic water in your tree stand. Don't use any additives such as the floral perfumes or the commercial tree personalizations molasses, sugar, bleach, soft drinks, aspirin, honey, or any other contraction. Just clean water is all you need for this tree to survive for the handful of weeks that are needed to get you through the holiday season.

Mikaela:

See, I just translate this as people just don't want Christmas to end, so they're doing everything in the book. You try every trick to try and make your Christmas tree last so that Christmas never ends.

Emily:

So it never ends. Proper water care and proper care is the best way to keep that chill tree healthy, as well as reduce any fire potential risks that it has. You can monitor your tree for dryness just by rubbing your fingers across the needles. And if you go to bend them and they bend, you generally okay. If they snap, it's obviously starting to dry out. And if they break off easy and fall off in your hand, then it's dry. If too many of them do it, you may want to go ahead and remove your tree because it possibly could be a fire hazard. I know that there was a study that just came out that said putting white lights on your Christmas tree will oftentimes help keep it fresher than, say, like, the colored lights, mainly because the tree itself can continue to photosynthesize with white lights, which it can't do with, say, like the bright blue ones or the green ones.

Rachel:

That's a really cool study.

Mikaela:

So I can use that to argue with my four year old as to why we can't have rainbow lights. She won't listen.

Rachel:

But maybe she can have her own little tree in our room with rainbow lights, though.

Mikaela:

You know, that's a good idea.

Emily:

I have a three foot plastic purple tree with purple lights.

Mikaela:

Oh, God.

Emily:

She can have if you want it for her for her room? Yes.

Mikaela:

She'd probably love that.

Emily:

I got to be honest.

Mikaela:

It might never leave her room as the problem.

Emily:

And you know what? That's fine. Everybody just wants to have a tree that they decorate and I can't blame them. I love it.

Mikaela:

I also like to bring plants indoors.

Emily:

And dress them up and dress them up. I do appreciate this. Oh God. So after the holidays, when you're ready to take your tree down, don't necessarily be in a hurry to send it to a landfill. So there's a few things you can do with your tree in your garden that can be beneficial to you. So you can remove those branches and stems and use them as a mulch. The tree itself can be placed on the ground, kind of in a back corner, and oftentimes can get used as a shelter for your ground nesting birds, depending on where you live. Sometimes there are nature preserves that oftentimes around the holiday seasons will reach out for donations of old trees, specifically to build up bird habitats around them. I know Talbot County has one that they do, but check with your local nature preserves. Sometimes they do accept donations of kind of these old ones. And then other places oftentimes will have big community bonfires where they will also kind of burn them. And other times there are places where you can take them and they will mulch them so that mulch can be used in the spring, which is a much better place for your tree than just sitting in a landfill.

Mikaela:

Great advice. Well, not everybody has the land for it, but they also say just putting them in the woods, creating a brush pile, it might not look the prettiest, but it has high functionality for birds, especially the smaller songbirds for protection and habitat. So that's why I usually collect them to do that elsewhere.

Emily:

Yeah.

Rachel:

Well, that's all we have for this episode, listener. We hope you enjoy it and we'll tune in next month for more gardening tips. If you have any garden relating questions, please email us at umegardenpodcast@gmail.com or look us up on Facebook at gardentimepodcast. That's garden. T-H-Y-M-E for more information about the University of Maryland Extension and these topics, please check out the University of Maryland Extension Home and Garden Information Center website at go dot umd.edu HGIC thanks for listening and have fun getting down and dirty in your garden.

Emily:

Goodbye. Bye.

Mikaela:

The Garden Time podcast is brought to you by the University of Maryland Extension. Mikayla Boley, Senior Agent Associate in Pelvic County for Horticulture rachel Rhodes, Senior Agent Associate for Horticulture in Queen Annes County and Emily Zoble, Senior Agent Associate for Agriculture in Dorchester County University.

Emily:

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