Are there more needles on the floor than on your tree now?

As usual we paid a premium for one of those "reduced drop" Christmas trees, but this year it has been shedding needles very rapidly.

Anyway I've just been listening to some bloke from The British Christmas Tree Growers Association explaining on the radio that most trees will be suffering from premature drop because they need a frost to help fix the needles.

I've just found this link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2061766/UK-warm-weather-mean-bad-news-Christmas-trees.html

I wish I knew this two weeks ago, I would have bought a cheap tree. Anybody else's trees suffering from alopecia this year?

mine seems to be ok at the moment so fingers crossed it will stay that way it should do as it is not a real one

Don't have one so I'm safe.

I wish I knew this two weeks ago, I would have bought a cheap tree. Anybody else's trees suffering from alopecia this year?

It seems that people put the tree up earlier each year, if they stuck to the twelfth night there might be more chance of it still having needles on it come boxing day.

We put ours up last Sunday. Still raining needles though.

We used to spray our tree with spray glue.

You put the tree up, leave it bare with no lights or anything.

Spray it, leave it over night then hey presto.

A non drop tree.

In the morning the glue will have dried completely so you can decorate it how you like.

I am sure that the dropped needles could be used, no: SHOULD be used for something: but what? A Christmas sculpture for next year? I am sure that there are some folks who collect them, like they collect toe nail clippings.

ours is not looking bad at the moment, but we have a gentle pinging at regular intervals.

I think next year I will find a potted one - anyone have any experience with them ? can you 'reuse' them each year ? do you need to do bug control ???

Don't have one so I'm safe.

same here, no tree = no problems

Fake tree for the win!

It would be truly fantastic if people simply saw the madness of buying real trees and either bought a fake one or, more preferably, purchased a living tree that won't be thrown away in January.

It horrifies me how many people buy real trees these days. You can rent a tree from most local farms or just have a lovely tree growing in your garden all year and bring it in for Xmas.

Next week I'll be showing you how to make an attractive table ornament from an old person (perhaps a friend or neighbour).

I sprayed ours with 3M Super77 aerosol glue.

So, in the spirit of these cheap Chinese greetings cards I got from the 1Euro shop, Mary Christams everybody.