Misconceptions and lies abound on the subject of fresh cut Christmas trees each holiday season used to confound buyers. Many of these false tales are usually started by people that are simply uninformed and by the artificial tree companies, who make billions of dollars each year with their imported Chinese trees.
The honest truth is that freshly cut holiday trees are environmentally friendly, cheaper, safer, require no storage space to store and have that wonderful pine scent that is just a traditional part of the Christmas season. Be sure to buy your tree grown right here in the good ol’ USA!
Don’t be fooled by these 4 phony myths designed to bamboozle the average Christmas tree shopper:
You can Re-use an Artificial Tree Each Year: Most fake trees have a lifespan of about 7-10 years before they are tossed out by their owners. They end up getting raggedy, collecting dust, become infested with spiders and bugs and just start looking dull. No matter how long you keep your artificial tree, it will eventually end up headed to a landfill—and since they’re made from PVC plastic and metal, it is not something that is going to break down in a landfill. Fake trees are terrible for our environment! A farmed tree will biodegrade very quickly and is completely recyclable and converted to mulch. Most local towns have Christmas tree recycling programs that collect trees once you put it on the curb—so they don’t end up in landfills and are super environmentally positive.
Cutting Down a Live Christmas tree is the Same as De-Forestation: False!
Almost all holiday trees are planted on farms designed specifically for the purpose of growing Christmas pines. Just like a vegetable or fruit farmer plants new crop to harvest every season, a tree farmer also puts in new seedlings for every tree that is cut down. You are NOT doing damage to the environment by using a live Christmas tree. In fact, over 500 million trees are grown on tree farms in America. Buying a live tree actually helps the economy in the USA, while most artificial trees come from China.
Real Christmas are Very Expensive: Tree prices vary based on where you live, how big it is and even by who is selling it. You can spend $20 or you can spend $100. There’s always a fresh cut tree to fit your budget. The artificial tree industry would like for you to believe that it’s cheaper to buy a fake tree claiming you ultimately save money over the long term. This is completely untrue, as anyone who has gone shopping for a holiday tree can assert that these trees are very expensive and can go up as high as $1,000. Even a mid-range tree priced at $300 would mean that it would take at least 15 years to make your money back—and that would be pretty tough to do considering that the lifespan of these trees is not that long. It actually ends up being cheaper to use a live tree—AND you don’t have to deal with the storage hassle every year.
Artificial Trees are Safer: This is the biggest falsehood out there. Most artificial trees are made in Chinese factories from nasty PVC plastics containing dangerous chemicals and even lead. In fact, many artificial trees come with a big warning label on them (the state of California requires it)! Additionally, the makers of fake trees love to tell consumers that live trees are a fire hazard. What they are not telling you is that nearly 30% of fires caused by a holiday tree are actually attributed to artificial ones. To be fair, live trees that have been cut months before they go on sale are potentially drying out, so we suggest buying a live tree from a reputable resource such as our sister site www.brighterblooms.com, which will provide trees that are freshly cut when you order them so you are assured a tree with lots of moisture to last the whole holiday season.