El Dorado County Master Gardeners

The holiday decorations have been up for weeks, Christmas is three days away and you're already thinking about where to plant that live tree you purchased. Whether or not you did use a live tree this year, or want to next year, learning a few facts about conifers will go a long way to insure its success in your landscape.

You probably aren't interested in planting an entire tree farm, but many of the gardening practices used by our commercial tree farmers can be implemented on a smaller scale in your own landscape to plant out your living Christmas tree. Here in El Dorado County, we are blessed with the right soil, climate and rainfall to grow many of the true fir species that are used for Christmas trees.

Pines, firs, cedars, cypress, spruces and redwood are all conifers (cone-bearing plants) and what we commonly refer to as evergreens. Abies and Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas Fir) are the most used conifers for Christmas trees with Abies magnifica (Red Fir), or silver tip, being the popular choice. A. concolor (White Fir) and A. procera (Noble Fir) are other good choices that grow successfully here.

Following just a few steps will insure that your live Christmas tree will make it once transplanted to its permanent location:

Choose a suitable planting site before you even purchase your tree – it should provide adequate growing space because these trees get large.
Select a healthy tree from your local nursery. Remember, a small tree is less expensive and much easier to handle; it also has a better chance of survival.
Make sure the soil ball is kept moist and try to place your tree in a cool location indoors (definitely not next to a woodstove or fireplace).
The tree should ideally only be kept indoors for 7-10 days – the shorter its stay inside, the better its chances for survival outside. If the tree is kept indoors for a longer period, the buds may break dormancy . . . then when planted outside, any succulent new growth will likely be killed by cold temperatures.
Carefully decorate the tree. It's better not to apply flocking or artificial snow and please, use only miniature lights.
When you move the tree outside, don't immediately plant it in its permanent location. A brief stay in a cool garage or shed allows the tree to gradually acclimate to cooler temperatures.
After a few days, you can plant your tree in the ground. Dig a hole twice the width of the root ball and a couple of inches higher in depth to allow for soil settling, place your tree and fill in the planting hole with native soil. Water well and if there is no rain predicted, keep it moist until it does rain. Mulch the area a foot or two out from the tree (but not right up against the trunk) if freezing temperatures are expected

Caring for your conifer after it has successfully been transplanted is relatively easy and most will not require much pruning, if at all. Fir trees produce all their new growth in spring with buds appearing at the tips of new shoots as well as along their length and at their bases. If you have to, prune these conifers in early spring; cutting new shoots back about halfway will induce more branching.

As far as pests and diseases are concerned, dwarf mistletoe can be a serious problem in Western conifers such as pines, firs, spruce and hemlock. If you see it developing, physically remove it by cutting it away. White Fir and Noble Fir seem especially susceptible to a root root called Phytophthora cinnamomi, but Douglas Fir is less so. The giant conifer aphid is another problem; it produces lots of honeydew which in turn leads to sooty mold. These conifer problems tend to occur more often in large, commercial tree farms and won't often affect a single tree, but it helps to keep an eye out for any potential damage.