Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

[WiZeR]

Hi guys

Well, the decs are coming down today and I was wondering what to do with the tree. Normally the council take it away for me, but with the allotment this year I was wondering if it can be used. I saw Monty Don shred his for the compost heap at xmas. I dont have a shredder so was wondering if it is worth me spending time chopping it up with sacetuers?

Any thoughts apprecieated

[Muddy Boots]

Such trees are generally acidic which is OK unless you specifically don't want your compost to be so. I doubt if any thing other than the very thinest branches will rot down without shredding. It may not be a problem but Christmas trees are often treated to stop the pine needles dropping. Again, this may also be OK but I would want to know if that would adversely affect the subsequent use of the compost. I suppose I am saying that, for me, I'd be happier not composting a Christmas tree.

It would be great if some of the GYO contributors could answer some of the questions posed. However, as a newbie to this forum, I don't know that that is not already the case.

[eskymo]

Forget Christmas Trees!

This year we went foraging in the wood for a lovely Festive Twig and came back with this [see pic] and decorated it with lights. We can then chop it up and give it to our neighbour to use as firewood.

[Lottie]

Chopped up they are great for keeping the weeds down - all conifers seem to do the trick, but I only use them where I never want to grown anything like a pathway at the bottom of the plot

[Lottie]

I just read on the fruiting thread that pine needles are good mulch for blueberries!

[Lesley Jay]

Eskymo your festive twig is lovely. How tall was it?

[eskymo]

In the pot - it probably stands a meter high - it's amazing what you can find lying around in the woods. I don't like the idea of cutting down trees for decorative purposes - it seems so wasteful even though they do look very pretty.