Going green: Tree huggers might want a real tree this Christmas

Robin Miller of T & S Nursery in rural Plymouth County helps customers pick trees for their holiday decorating. She estimates they sell about 1,000 trees a year. Raised Christmas trees are a renewable resource which create oxygen and serve as a habitat for wildlife while they're growing. [Click to enlarge]

"The tree is renewable," said Sue Muth, co-owner of T & S Nursery in rural Plymouth County. "A plastic tree is non-biodegradable. But a real tree won't sit in the landfill forever."

Old Christmas trees can also be recycled by being chipped into mulch, she said.

At T & S Nursery, the growers raise about 15,000 trees at a time, selling about 1,000 trees each year.

This year they planted 1,800 new trees.

"We buy them when they're 2- or 3-year-olds and plant them," Muth said.

After six years, they cut start harvesting trees from that section, which will be harvested for the next 10 years.

"Trees are like people," Muth said. "Of 500 planted, not all will develop at the same time"

Some take six years, some take at least 10.

"It's a long-term crop," Muth said. "When people buy real Christmas trees, they're also supporting agriculture. We're an agricultural region and growing Christmas trees is just another crop, like soybeans or corn."

And if the tree never matures into a nice Christmas tree shape, it isn't a waste.

"We make about 600 wreaths and swags and a couple thousand yards of garland," Muth said.

Trees that don't sell this year aren't waste either. They just keep growing until next year.

"While trees are growing, they provide oxygen and clean the atmosphere," Muth added.

An acre of trees, about 1,000 at the T & S Nursery, creates enough oxygen for 18 people, according to some statistics.

To erase one person's carbon footprint takes about 72 pine trees.

"And they create a home for wildlife -- we see birds nests and little animals," Muth said. "They make cover for deer, too. Good habitat for them."

Some environmentalists say using real Christmas trees is more earth-friendly because manufacturing artificial trees uses nonrenewable resources like petroleum.

Then again, raising live trees also uses energy.

To plant trees, Muth said, they first till the soil.

They plant more than half of their trees with a homemade planter, rigged up out of old disc and plow parts, attached to the back of a tractor. It saves time, but takes fuel to run it.

"After we plant, then it's time for mowing. We mow nonstop," Muth laughed. "We put a lot of gallons of gas in the mowers."

Like many, she's thankful fuel prices have dropped below $2.

"When prices were higher, we allowed fields to get taller in between mowings," she said.

But a lot of the work at T & S Nursery is manual.

"It's not like other crop farming, where you can use a tractor to do everything," she said. "We put fertilizer on with a pail and scoop. And with some trees like the Fraser Fir, we have to pick all the cones off."

Trees produce about 100 cones each, she said.

Unless they're stressed.

A tree will create more cones if it is under pressure, biologically designed to recreate before it dies.

Trees also must be trimmed -- more manual labor.

"I'm thankful it's a seasonal job," laughed Robin Miller of T & S Nursery.

"We care for the trees spring, summer and fall," Muth said. "A lot of people think we just plant, cut and take the money. It's a lot of work done by hand."

So does growing a real Christmas tree or creating a manufactured tree use more energy? It's hard to measure.

Another issue some environmentalists take with manufactured trees is that many are made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which creates cancer-causing agents during production.

"And if they're in the landfill, they will not decompose," Muth said.

However, some manufacturers are using other materials to create more earth-friendly fakes.

Taking care of the environment doesn't have to stop with picking a tree this season:

*Use reusable shopping bags.

*Buy Christmas cards printed on recycled paper. Or reuse Christmas cards you've received other years and make your own.

*Buy food in bulk, and buy food with little packaging.

*Make "green" gifts like fruit baskets, framed photographs, cookies in a jar. Avoid gifts that need batteries to run.

*Re-use gift wrap, gift bags and tissue paper.