Can a cut Christmas tree be replanted?

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Jameshow

Veteran
Nope even ones with a root ball often struggle.
Best are those that are pot grown.
 

annedonnelly

Girl from the North Country
I didn't listen Jeremy Vine was going to talk about that very topic yesterday lunchtime. Perhaps available on BBC Sounds?

Personally I'd have thought not, but certain trees will re-grow - Willow for example.
 
OP
OP
biggs682

biggs682

Touch it up and ride it
Location
Northamptonshire
I didn't listen Jeremy Vine was going to talk about that very topic yesterday lunchtime. Perhaps available on BBC Sounds?

Personally I'd have thought not, but certain trees will re-grow - Willow for example.

Hence my question as I missed the show as well.
Nope even ones with a root ball often struggle.
Best are those that are pot grown.

We replanted one with a root ball and it's still going strong and is about 8 foot tall.

It took a few years to really get going.
 

Jameshow

Veteran
Hence my question as I missed the show as well.


We replanted one with a root ball and it's still going strong and is about 8 foot tall.

It took a few years to really get going.

Over the years I've had about 50% success. Not being a gardener I've just put them in the ground and watered.

The little ones tend to far least well tbh. The bigger ones more so.
 
OP
OP
biggs682

biggs682

Touch it up and ride it
Location
Northamptonshire
Over the years I've had about 50% success. Not being a gardener I've just put them in the ground and watered.

The little ones tend to far least well tbh. The bigger ones more so.

The one we planted was about 3 ft tall and had minimal roots that had been cut when it was dug up before we got it , if we had known how well it would grow we would have planted it in a different position, but wouldn't fancy moving it now.
 

Tail End Charlie

Well, write it down boy ......
A cut Xmas tree won't take, it has no roots so will dry out and die as it has no way of taking up water.

Ones with a rootball stand a better chance - as with any trees, generally the smaller the tree the better it will take. It would need regular watering for the first year or so though.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Ours was potted and it's about 12 foot tall now. Not going to let it get too much bigger as it's close to the pavement, and would cover it if allowed to get big. It's just the right size to decorate for Christmas - had lights and baubles on it again this year.
 

Ian H

Ancient randonneur
Never say never - there's bound to be one somewhere that took - but it's an extremely remote possibility.

A previous owner of this place planted one at the top of the garden. It was around 30' tall when we found it, growing through an old bramley (the end of the garden was so overgrown that we couldn't see either until we'd macheted our way in). I took a chainsaw to the xmas tree, but the bramley is still there and thriving.
 

Ian H

Ancient randonneur
Also a cut tree isn't really a tree. It's a branch from a much bigger tree.

That wouldn't work because no branch is going to be symmetrical. No, they're grown pretty much to size (a friend of mine sells them, so I do know).
 

icowden

Veteran
Location
Surrey
That wouldn't work because no branch is going to be symmetrical. No, they're grown pretty much to size (a friend of mine sells them, so I do know).

I stand corrected. I'm sure someone once told me that some of the cuts are taken from much larger trees to get a more compact, rounder tree. I must (or they must) have been making it up.
 

Ian H

Ancient randonneur
I stand corrected. I'm sure someone once told me that some of the cuts are taken from much larger trees to get a more compact, rounder tree. I must (or they must) have been making it up.

Yes, but just the top off a larger tree.

Growers have to protect the trees against damage by animals such as deer. If the lead shoot is broken or eaten, the resulting 'deformed' tree is unsaleable.
 

tom73

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
No with no roots it's no chance getting enough water to balance out the amount loss let alone all the other stuff they do.
 

tom73

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
I stand corrected. I'm sure someone once told me that some of the cuts are taken from much larger trees to get a more compact, rounder tree. I must (or they must) have been making it up.

Grower spend 1000's of hours pruning and shaping to get them looking like they do. A 6ft tree if grown from a sapling your looking at 2 years work. If grown from seed it's around 12 years.
 
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