What’s better for the environment, a real or fake Christmas tree? What are sustainable options for getting rid of your tree after the holidays? Your evergreen questions, answered.
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth ranks fourth in the country in terms of Christmas tree production, according to Dr. Rick Bates, a Christmas tree management expert and professor of horticulture at Penn State University.
More goes into Christmas tree farming than simply planting seeds. The first step is to give trees a good start by planting them in places with ideal conditions. When a tree is about four years old, farmers then begin the “culturing” process, which involves trimming them into the classic tapered shape with dense branches. When trees are between seven to 10 years old, they’re ready to be harvested.
In that time, the trees absorb and sequester carbon from the air.
“You’ve always got more trees planted than are harvested,” Bates said.
They also provide shelter for wildlife. After the holiday season, they can be turned into mulch to promote soil health. And thanks to the many local farms, customers don’t have to drive long distances to find the right one. Artificial trees, on the other hand, are made of plastic and are shipped from overseas, usually China. Eventually, they end up in landfills.
“There’s really not, I think, much of an argument between a real tree or a fake tree interns of environmental impact when you look at the whole package,” Bates said.
While Christmas trees are a beloved holiday tradition, the effects of climate change are threatening the future of popular species like Frasier and Douglas firs. Warmer temperatures, more extreme storms, and new diseases are impacting conifers. Root rot has been a particular threat, spread in part due to more intense rainfall.
“And Frasier fir, unfortunately, is very susceptible to root rot diseases,” Bates said.
In response, Dr. Bates has been studying more climate-resistant conifers from the Mediterranean region and testing their viability in Pennsylvania.
“It’s reassuring that this sort of research to basically plot a course of adaptation for agriculture is going on,” Bates said.