Guide
How to Choose a Real Christmas Tree
Four questions settle it. Answer them before you leave the house and the field trip takes twenty minutes instead of two hours.
In this guide
- Question one: how long will it be up?
- Question two: what are you hanging on it?
- Question three: does anyone react to the smell?
- Question four: how much floor space is there really?
- Checking a tree is fresh
- What it should cost
Question one: how long will it be up?
This narrows the field faster than anything else.
If you put the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving and take it down after New Year, you need five weeks out of it. That means Fraser fir, Nordmann fir, Canaan fir, or white fir — the species that hold needles longest. Douglas fir and grand fir will be dropping by week three.
If you're a mid-December household, almost anything works and you can choose on scent or price instead.
Question two: what are you hanging on it?
Pull out a box of ornaments and pick up the heaviest one.
If it's substantial glass or ceramic, you need stiff branches: noble fir, Fraser fir, blue spruce, or Canaan fir. Noble is the strongest limb on any lot, which is why commercial wreath makers use it.
If you decorate with lights, ribbon and lightweight baubles, the soft-branched species open up — white pine, Leyland cypress, Douglas fir — and they're generally cheaper.
Question three: does anyone react to the smell?
Real trees genuinely trigger headaches and congestion in some people, usually from the resin volatiles rather than pollen.
Nordmann fir and Leyland cypress are effectively scentless. Leyland is a sterile hybrid producing no pollen at all, which is why it's the standard recommendation for allergy households.
At the other end, grand fir is the most fragrant tree you can buy, with white fir close behind on a citrus note.
Question four: how much floor space is there really?
Measure the ceiling height and subtract a foot for the stand and topper. Then measure the floor width where it's going.
Narrow rooms want Fraser fir or incense cedar, both naturally columnar. Wide corners suit Douglas fir or Monterey pine, which are dense and full.
Silver tip and noble fir are the opposite case — deliberately open and tiered. They need space around them to read properly and look sparse jammed into a corner.
Checking a tree is fresh
This matters most for pre-cut trees, which may have been cut weeks earlier and trucked in.
Run a branch through your closed hand, firmly. A few needles is normal; a shower of them means the tree is already drying. Then lift the tree an inch and drop it butt-first on the ground. Green needles falling from the interior is fine — that's normal shedding. Green needles falling from the outer branches is not.
The cut end should look fresh and slightly sticky, not grey and dry. If it's grey, ask for a fresh cut before you tie it to the car.
What it should cost
Prices vary enormously by region and species, but the ordering is consistent. Douglas fir, Monterey pine, Scotch pine, incense cedar and white pine are the affordable end. White fir, grand fir and Canaan fir sit in the middle. Fraser fir, noble fir, Nordmann fir and silver tip are premium.
Choose-and-cut farms are usually priced by the foot, and often work out cheaper than a pre-cut tree of the same species because there's no freight in the price.
Many farms are cash or check only and have no cell signal. Bring cash.