OH! Tannenbaum

We just paid $150.00 for a Christmas tree.....what is the world coming to?

Gee whiz Levil, what kind and size did you get? Perhaps its the East Coast cost of living?

Ernie

It is about 10 feet and I think a spruce (or fir). I heard flat fir......sharp spruce.. and these are sharp. I also heard that in NYC they are going for $400.00 each.

levilyla, I guess you know the state song of Maryland is sung to the tune of "O, Tannenbaum"

I need to get home and see if my Abies nordmanniana is still there, or if it's become a Terrapin.

Or (since it's LL), maybe my Aesculus is AWOL...

now now...that would not be a very pretty Christmas tree SP. BUT am I correct in what I heard? Spruce sharp? Fir flat? This from a lecture..... so it was not I.

I haven't priced out a 10'er here, but when I worked on a tree farm here I know there weren't many good ones to cut.
We got a 6' Concolor for $36

I couldn't imagine a 10ft tree. My ceilings are only 8ft throughout my house, so my 7ft tree is almost too big.

I'm allergic to live Xmas trees inside, so I have a nice fake one that comes out of the closet with its lights already attached :)
And I only had to pay for it once :) :)
Plus it doesn't shead :) :) :)
Or need to be watered :) :) :) :)

I am allergic to decorating and particularly undecorating the tree, so this year it will be festooned with lichens, pine-cones, crab-apples, cranberries and popcorn. I paid $29.00 for a seven footer and the nursery had a vibrating machine to shake the dead needles off the tree before you brought it home....bazaar. kt

The tree farm where we used to cut ours down is "out of Christmas tree size trees" we used to pay about 40. Also my husband was sent out alone to get the tree...I would NEVER have paid this amount. I am not ready for the fake...always said never but maybe the time will come.

We are Christmas tree farmers, and the thought of a fake tree goes against the grain, but 400.00! I guess people would just have to get an artificial one.

One of our local tree sellers ships loads into NYC, now I know why.

By the way my favorite Christmas tree is Serbian Spruce, although I really love the smell of Balsam.

Maybe mine is a serbian..could you tell?

Sounds like a fun decorating approuch, KT! When your done with the Holidaze, you can just place the tree outside and use it a s a bird feeder....

Lev,

If I can't. I'm sure someone else on here can.

It's doubtfull you got a serbian spruce, as they are not common as Christmas trees. They are distinctive in that some branches weep, and some are upright. The needles are green on the upside, and whitish blue on the underside, and the needles are flat, like a hemlock, not the four sided needles like most spruces. This also makes a fantastic landscape tree, and there are weeping varieties of it. (Picea omorika)

I think the most common Christmas tree is scotch pine, according to the national tree growers assoc. Scotch pine needles are very sharp. So that may be the tree you have. Also, of course there is blue spruce, with sharp needles.

But I am not a conifer expert, by any means, so anyone feel free to jump in here....

I can remember one year when I was a kid and the money was tight. My parents went into the woods and cut down a eastern red cedar to use as a Christmas tree. If they are open grown they don't look half bad. Only thing is you can't hang anything heavy on it because it will droop to the ground. In hard times I guess you learn to make the most of what you have. We were kids so we didn't know the difference though. As long as it was shaped like a cone, it was a Christmas tree. LOL

After what you described mine is not a serbian.

red cedar!! I'm sure it looked ok , but if those little tips dry and break off they are the most lethal thing ever to bare feet!!!!!! we know from the yard; my son has a death wish for holllies and cedar around us.

ah, the 'sent the husband' situation , especially dangerous when DH has his DD with him.

Actually I try to be practical, but I do have the uncanny ability to pick out the most expensive tree without looking at the prices.

LL:

Post a pic; I'm sure we can ID your tree, though from here I'm getting emanations of an expensive cut Picea abies, Norway spruce, which make very nice cut Christmas trees.

Short needles, sharp, squarish, dark green typically. Sheared, they are very dense and branches are stiff enough to hang heavy ornaments all over them.

Most spruces have sharper needle tips, and most firs (not all) are blunter. I find most firs also have very citrusy fragrant needles when crushed (esp. Abies concolor and Abies nordmanniana).

As for the flat vs. pointed question: I'd say it is generally true. Spruce needles are 4 sided in cross-section, although Serbian spruce needles are kind of flattened(but not as flat as firs). I don't think there are any true firs that are sharp. At least no common ones. (Remember, Douglas Fir is not a true fir.) But there is certainly a range of sharpness in the spruces. In my first identification class, that was one of the differentiating characteristics between Colorado spruce(very sharp), and White spruce(not so sharp). Another good observation between the two genera: fir(Abies) needles pliable, spruce(Picea) needles stiff. But of course, firs are not the only evergreens with pliable(or flat) needles, and spruce are not the only evergreens with stiff(or sharp) needles.

Edited to say: Whoops! a little redundancy here, as VV swooped in before me!

This message was edited Dec 8, 2006 5:47 PM

LW:

No quibbling intended, but up in MN you'll never run across an Abies firma (the Momi fir, or Japanese fir) to ID. It's a pretty sharp-needled fir.

Otherwise, I agree with everything you mentioned.

Yup. Not familiar with those. Thanks.

Ah, finally something even closely related to zone 3. Our "weed" trees up north of the frozen tundra are the conifers Balsam fir and White spruce, and,yes the balsam needles are flat and the spruce needles are sharp, as anyone who has tried to string lights on one knows (OUCH). So the preferred tree is the fir. I say 'weed" because the deer avoid both, so they flourish. All of you are welcome to upsend to lovely Presque Isle and take all you want from my place. Two important points to remember though: One; my trees are not sheared: which makes the branching stiffer to support lights and ornaments, and Two; it is a long way up here for most of you as it is for most "christmas tree" farms, and a good deal of what you are paying for is transportation. I'm sure the growers shear more than one year to get the stiffness-supportabilty that we all expect. I'm sure we all can grown our own, shear them, and cut them down as they crowd each other out, but do we want to spend the time and effort. Ken

I'm betting on Scotch Pine, although the price throws me. Norway Spruce is certainly a good bet, also.

Lev, can you post a pic, so our experts here can identify it. Now, I really want to know.

And what do you think accounted for the price being so much higher this year. Do there seem to be fewer cut trees in your area.? Is it a tree you normally don't get, or much taller than you normally get,or from a different source. Or possibly a doting husband that will just pay whatever the price to get you a nice tree.

150.00--I better start planting!

BTW the ends of these needles are pointed but not sharp...so how do you tell pointed..sharp. I know it is not scotch because that thing is horrible to trim..this is not. When they say flat do they mean flat on the end or flat needle?

OK, Leftwood got the honorable mention.

That's a Pseudotsuga, probably P. menziesii....Douglas fir. Another nice tree for Christmas.

Thanks SP and LW...and everyone....so it is a fir and it has flat needles with points. I wish I could ID things like that.

Again, for trees that grow up here in the northland, the very pointed buds is a good diagnostic for Douglas fir.

Wow, good job everyone. What a fantastic place to learn. I can read books till my eyes cross, but this forum is great.

More diagnostics (added to LW's note on the long very conical sharp pointed buds):

Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas fir, Douglasfir, not a true fir as in Abies) can be distinguished from many other conifers by those buds combined with needles held swept towards the branch tips. LL's excellent photograph displays this trait very well. Her picture also alludes to the camphor smell one would experience if a needle were crushed, though I haven't tried that myself.

If there were cones present (doubtful on a sheared tree), they would have prominent bracts that extend beyond the scales. These cones are unmistakeable as definitive for this species, and you'd never confuse this with a pine, spruce, or fir again.

Okay so it is not a pine spruce or fir....then what in the heck is it? In a class all by itself? and LW when you say very pointed buds..you mean the ends of the needles?

Just got a Doug Fir yesterday for 49 smackers. 1st time with this kind of tree for indoors. I might try a variety or two or three in the yard since they can tolerate a little shade.

Bill

I saw on the news last night where a local high school football team is selling Christmas trees to raise money for some new gym equipment. I think they were 50-100 dollars.

Willi Mac, When I lived up the pike in Rockford we always bought Doug fir for its "flowing nature". Miss it up here, it will grow; however, it's deer food and most tree farms don't fence their property. Just end up planting what they won't eat. Ken

No deer here. Just squirrels the size of deer.

FRED paid 150.00 for a Christmas TREE????
FRED???
FRED????
the guy who cannot afford his own entree? ROTFLMBO!!!!!

now now.....

I cannot wait to see what he springs for your gift!

you have D mail