How not to be mistaken when buying a Christmas tree

Before the New Year there was nothing left - some couple of weeks. Everywhere one feels a merry New Year's hype: how best to meet, what to submit for a festive table, what to give ... Many also ask themselves: what kind of tree to buy and how to choose it correctly? After all, the green beauty is the main heroine of the New Year. But in order for the Christmas tree to rejoice our eyes, the issue of its choice should be approached seriously.


Live or artificial?

First, decide what kind of tree you want: artificial or living, with the smell of needles and frost. Depending on your preferences, further recommendations will be made to enhance the live or long-lasting synthetic beauty. The differences are quite understandable: an artificial Christmas tree with proper care is almost eternal, it certainly will last for a year, it does not crumble, it is easy to fold and store. But it is a gingerbread, pine or fir is a real symbol of the New Year. And with all its shortcomings, such as the shedding of needles, the need for strong attachment, fragility and, in the end, the destruction of nature due to a one-day holiday, a live spruce will bring to the house a wonderful aroma of pine needles. Although, of course, the care of an artificial Christmas tree is much easier and easier.

Choose a living spoon

If you are always faithful to the traditions and decided to buy a living beauty, then approach the choice very responsibly. In a healthy tree, as a rule, the needles are bright and green, strong, fairly thick and straight trunk and flexible, fragile branches. First of all, carefully examine the trunk at the fir. It should be straight, do not have knots and wounds. Try to catch it with your fingers - at a height of 1.5 meters if the barrel should be at least 8 cm, and the weight should be at least 7 kg. Look also at the cut - if there is a dark bezel, then the tree was cut long ago. Such a Christmas tree does not last long, it will start to fall off soon after bringing home. In addition, the smell of needles is also not long - if the spruce has long been no longer at the root, then it still only smelled of a day or two, if not less.

Needles in the healthy live Christmas tree are also subject to inspection. Try to break a small twig. The branches of a good Christmas tree should be flexible, not brittle. If the tree is not good, then it will be difficult to break, and on hands after touching the needles will leave a strong smell of resin. Even the fingers will be smeared with oily substance - this is good, it shows the freshness of the tree cuttings before selling. At a dry Christmas tree, the windbreaker is cracked and very easy.

Buy more half the battle

When buying a live tree, make sure that the branches do not break during transportation. Otherwise, your work associated with the right choice of wood will go to waste. It will be better to wrap a spruce with a dense cloth, and if it is not there, tie the branches with a soft oven. Do not hurry to bring the tree into the room. The Christmas tree in general is better to install 2-3 days before the beginning of the New Year. If you bought it before, keep it on the balcony until installation: there, the wood will be easier to adapt to sudden temperature changes. If you can not wait, leave at least 2-3 hours in a cold place - on the balcony, on the stairs or zaoknom. Fir trees do not like sharp temperature changes.

When choosing a place for a house in the house, do not put it near the battery and heating appliances. Do not allow direct sunlight to hit the branches. All this quickly the tree will come into disrepair, it will fall asleep and may not even "hold out" to the doctors. Before installing the Christmas tree, clean the place of the cut from the bark, and cut the trunk with an ax. So your tree will absorb moisture better. You can put the fir-tree in a container with wet sand, and into the ground. But you need to monitor the constant maintenance of moisture.

If you decide to put the tree in the water, then prepare a "nutritious cocktail" in advance. In the water, add a little glycerin, a pinch of salt, sugar and an aspirin tablet. You can apply this recipe: add about 50 grams of water to the water. syrup and a teaspoon of oxygen bleach and fertilizer for flowers (based on a liter of water).

Choose an artificial tree

The main criterion for choosing artificial firs is the same as when buying live: furry and bright color. Choose a spruce for your taste, but do not forget that they make them of different material. Remember about safety, especially if you have small children. Low-quality spruce secrete harmful chemicals, which, however, are easy to "smell" when buying.

Everything is natural: the lower the price of a Christmas tree, the worse it is for quality. Most likely, needles from cheap, cheerful products are made from toxic materials or even from colored paper. If the Christmas tree is too cheap - better just walk past. The most expensive are imported from Europe, and cheap ones from China.

Pay close attention to the packaging marking of the tree. On the package there is always information on the fireproof properties of the needles, to exclude the fire of the Christmas tree. In case of toxic cheap materials, pine needles are very fire dangerous. Synthetic good quality spruce is made of special refractory materials with additional addition of flame retardants. Such a tree is exactly unflattered.

Check for durability and durability can be directly with the purchase. Conduct for this hand over the needles against her "growth" and slightly twitch. If the needles do not stain and there are no cracks in it, if the needles quickly return to their original position, before you a good, quality Christmas tree. Look at the stand for the tree - it should be strong and stable. And be sure to pay attention to the method of assembly. There are two basic methods. At the first, the Christmas tree simply unfolds like an umbrella, and the trunk is placed by the author, and then branches are put on it. The latter option is cheaper.