PUYALLUP -
It's one of those pesky problems around the holiday season, your Christmas tree dries up and you're stuck with a bunch of dry needles falling from it. Now, a local professor says he's working on a way to fix this needle nuisance.
Imagine a Christmas morning where you'd wake up and only find gifts under the tree instead of all those sticky needles.
In the lab at Washington State University's Puyallup Research and Extension Center, Doctor Gary Chastagner can mix one part of a tree with another and create what amounts to a super Christmas tree that can truly hold its own.
"This is a tree a Nordman Fir grafted tree that this top part was selected from a tree that had good foliage characteristics and good post harvest needle retention," said Chastagner.
The tree professor plays Santa Claus for the Spruces, Noble, Douglas, and Grand Firs in the Research Center's 15 acres mini forest.
"This tree which obviously has some needle disorder problems that occurred during the growing season," said Chastagner.
Weeding out the scrooges is only part of creating a genetically superior Christmas tree.
"Needle retention isn't the only thing that's important. You've got to have trees that grow well uniformly. Have even branches on them to fill out the tree so you don't have big gaps," said Chastagner.
They have to be disease resistant to a tree trait that would be good for growers in the Pacific Northwest, which supply 40 percent of American Christmas trees.
These Christmas miracle trees can take several years to perfect. In the meantime, Chastagner offers this advice.
"Just displaying trees in water is the most important thing consumers can do to maintain freshness and needle loss problems," said Chastagner.
The professor says the key to keeping your tree fresh through the holiday's is quite simple water it. Most trees need a gallon of water a day.
Imagine a Christmas morning where you'd wake up and only find gifts under the tree instead of all those sticky needles.
In the lab at Washington State University's Puyallup Research and Extension Center, Doctor Gary Chastagner can mix one part of a tree with another and create what amounts to a super Christmas tree that can truly hold its own.
"This is a tree a Nordman Fir grafted tree that this top part was selected from a tree that had good foliage characteristics and good post harvest needle retention," said Chastagner.
The tree professor plays Santa Claus for the Spruces, Noble, Douglas, and Grand Firs in the Research Center's 15 acres mini forest.
"This tree which obviously has some needle disorder problems that occurred during the growing season," said Chastagner.
Weeding out the scrooges is only part of creating a genetically superior Christmas tree.
"Needle retention isn't the only thing that's important. You've got to have trees that grow well uniformly. Have even branches on them to fill out the tree so you don't have big gaps," said Chastagner.
They have to be disease resistant to a tree trait that would be good for growers in the Pacific Northwest, which supply 40 percent of American Christmas trees.
These Christmas miracle trees can take several years to perfect. In the meantime, Chastagner offers this advice.
"Just displaying trees in water is the most important thing consumers can do to maintain freshness and needle loss problems," said Chastagner.
The professor says the key to keeping your tree fresh through the holiday's is quite simple water it. Most trees need a gallon of water a day.
