Reader Q&A

A couple more for today ...

From: Erika Heinz
Subject: not drinking

I bought my tree the day after Thanksgiving, same as every year. And I watered it every day. Almost a week ago it stopped drinking water. Not a drop. It looks fine. Nothing is turning brown or falling off ... yet. But Christmas is not for a week! And I am getting nervous it may not make it. I drilled a couple of holes in the sides at the botton below the water line just a couple hours ago. Any ideas? I saw all kinds of suggestions from different places online about boiling water, aspirin, bleach. Help!

Answer: Well, those crazy suggestions are not going to help anything. By no means should you put bleach in the tree's water. The rate of water absorption will fluctuate, but admittedly, yes it will also stop altogether eventually. If your tree took up water that many days in a row, I would say it's fine. As long as the water level in the stand did not fall below the cut surface for a long period of time.

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From: H & L Cooper
Subject: Christmas Tree Question

You say the best thing for my fresh tree is "plain, fresh, tap water." Does that apply if we have a water-softener? Might the salt hurt the tree?

Answer: No, that won't impact the tree. Your water doesn't have higher salt content, just lower mineral content. The tree is absorbing H2O on a molecular level, and H2O is H2O whether you have a softener or not.