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Christmas Trees Bring Joy, and They Do Much More
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Christmas Trees Bring Joy, and They Do Much More

Matthew Quinn’s tree farm in Cornville. Photo by Matt Quinn

It’s Christmas tree season. I love him.

To some, it may seem wasteful to cut down a perfectly healthy fir tree in its botanical youth, transport it hundreds of miles so someone can buy it, take it home, and bring it indoors for a few weeks before throwing it in the trash. . But beyond the joy they bring to many people, these trees do a lot of good during their relatively short lives.

Matthew Quinn of Cornville, vice president and soon-to-be president of the Maine Christmas Tree Growers Association, said many people who object to the use of live Christmas trees are under the (false) impression that they come from a forest, which would be damaged by the loss of young trees.

“We harvest a crop, just like fields of corn or hay,” Quinn explained. “The only difference is that our crop takes seven to ten years to mature. »

The farmlands where Christmas trees grow are home to many wildlife species. Field mice often hang out near trees in search of food, and these mice are an important step in the food chain for other wildlife; they are eaten by owls, hawks, skunks and snakes. Chipmunks and squirrels live among mature Christmas trees, and in the spring and summer, songbirds build their nests and raise their chicks in the trees.

“It’s considered good luck if you find a bird’s nest in the tree you choose to cut down,” Quinn said.

Quinn added that growing Christmas trees helps people survive. “One acre of Christmas trees provides enough oxygen every day to keep 18 people alive,” he said.

Trees continue to provide benefits even after people have decorated them, enjoyed the holidays, taken them down, and gotten rid of them. Many used Christmas trees are collected by municipalities and then ground up and made into compost which, in turn, when used in a garden, improves the soil’s ability to retain moisture.

The way the needles and small branches cling to other materials, Quinn noted, makes them useful for placing on beaches to prevent erosion during hurricanes and other storms as well as the dangerously high tides caused by climate change.

Christmas tree farms also provide work, although it is mostly seasonal work. Most of these seasonal workers have other full-time jobs, but farm work provides additional income, Quinn said. The work includes tree dumping, in which branches are cut or entire trees are mowed. Material removed from tree tips is used for wreaths and other decorations. Once these trees grow back, they are cut down to be used as Christmas trees.

Ben and Molly’s Christmas tree farm in southern China during the holiday season. Christmas trees are a crop, like corn or hay, says Matthew Quinn, new president of the Maine Christmas Tree Association, and they provide many benefits to wildlife and people. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

For all of these and more personal reasons, my wife Nancy and I have always purchased Christmas trees grown locally and sold by local businesses or non-profit organizations.

Quinn admits that growing Christmas trees has some environmental impacts. Farmers use tractors in the fields and ship the trees by truck. But even though the trees are imported from as far away as Canada, they cause far less damage than fake plastic and metal trees imported from abroad.

Nancy and I love our local Christmas trees. If tradition holds this year, we’ll buy one the week after Thanksgiving. For several years we had two Christmas trees: a large cut one in the family room and a live potted one in the living room, which we would later plant in our garden. We abandoned the live tree because it took a long time.

First, you need to dig a very large hole before the ground freezes where you plan to plant it. Once you buy the potted or balled tree and bring it home, it can only stay inside for three or four days. The room where you place it must remain cool and you must water the tree. If it is too hot, dormancy will be broken. If it becomes too dry, it will be damaged. After Christmas, which always seems to be the coldest, windiest day in December, you have to take it outside and stick it in the waiting hole.

These living trees can grow very large. After planting six, we never knew where to put more in our garden. Then two died because the place I chose for them was too shady. We planted the other four on the edge of our vegetable garden. I used to light them at Christmas until they got so big it was dangerous to do the job from a stepladder.

A few years ago we cut down one of the remaining four, thinking we could use the top as an indoor Christmas tree that year. But by then the tree had grown so long that it turned out that the trunk, even near the top of the tree, was too thick to fit into our tree stand. Instead, we used the greens for wreaths and other decorations.

The three remaining trees are now jostling each other. Another will have to be removed within a year. We will definitely plan it so that we, along with members of the Cape Elizabeth Garden Club and other friends, can use the greens for their Christmas decorations.

Tom Atwell is a freelance writer who gardens in Cape Elizabeth. He can be contacted at: [email protected].