Christmas tree farmer provides safety advice

Floyd, Virginia – The trees that will adorn our homes are the result of years of labor by farmers throughout Virginia before we ever begin to consider the holidays.

One Floyd farmer reported that their crop is doing well this year despite the recent drought.
John Houston, proprietor of Sweet Providence Christmas Tree Farm, discusses tree care and how to prevent your live tree from drying out.

There wasn’t much drought. We cut our trees as late as possible, but I was still concerned in October. Houston stated, “That’s a big selling point to everybody who buys my trees.”
In order to irrigate the 50,000 trees he grows on the site, Houston expressed gratitude for the recent rain.

“We were happy that the rain continued because, with proper watering, the tree will continue to provide benefits well into January.”

According to him, the typical tree is about fourteen years old when a consumer purchases it, and those trees gather water for years before they are placed in a homeowner’s house.

He added, “We’ll give people’s trees a new cut just before they take them home as an additional service.” “It pulls the water up by opening the tree’s base in a way.”

According to Houston, you can keep the tree from drying up and maybe setting fire in your house by keeping it moist.

“It kind of cauterizes at the tree’s base when it runs out of water, so you might have to give it another fresh cut to keep it drinking water.”

He advises locals to maintain live trees away from sources of heat.

Just the fact that it’s close to your heater, a heat vent, or a radiator indicates that it’s near a fireplace or heat register. The tree will dry out more quickly because of the more heat near it, Houston stated.

Houston advises locals to purchase live trees rather than artificial ones. According to him, purchasing locally is always preferable since farmers tend to their trees and locals may always contact them with maintenance-related concerns.