Tie on a cinder block and drop them in a lake for fishbeds too. I know some towns that collect the trees then mulch them and give back to the community.

Does anybody else feel sorry for the trees that got cut down, but weren't bought? I'm such a softie.

I ask my neighbors for their castaway trees to acidify my soil. I live on heavy alkaline clay and the rotting needles do a great job of giving an acid boost in the spring.

Techsupport8 You should have been here a couple of years ago, when I hauled away 97 wheelbarrels of pine needles. The previous owners never cleaned up the needles, so they were anywhere between three and six inches deep (by three feet wide, by 95 feet long). It was a hot day and your help would have been much needed. lol

Our city has a couple of drop off points for trees to be mulched, and will even give you free mulch (you bring the containers).

Our community picks up not only the trees but leaves that have been piled on the treelawn.....then they offer the mulch 'free' to residents. Bring your own bag/box/container and you can haul home as much as you want.

linda

We took our tree out to the back deck... I'm gonna have the grandkids help me decorate it for the birds. That way we can now enjoy it out side. Then my DH will take it out in the woods for a brush pile.

I cut off the branches and use them to mulch the blueberries. Linda

I read in the paper the other day where a drug company wants them - and the city is going to collect thousands for them.

They are collecting some kind of rare material that they can obtain from Christmas trees which they need to make some drugs that are important - currently, I think.

I think that the city may have been Toronto.

ole joyful

We can put ours in our yard debris container that the garbage co picks up...goes into the county mulch center and then is SOLD as mulch.

You can also drop off, or arrange for pick up with the Boy Scouts for a small donation. They then make arrangements for it to go to the transfer station for mulching.

I think I'll go that route...make me feel a bit less guilty about using a live tree for Christmas!

Before I purchased my 'faux' tree, I would dispose of mine by taking it to a 'Christmas tree cemetary' provided by the city in several areas. The trees are used for mulch in the green areas along the freeways and other areas of the city.

Like Lydia, I have a problem with all the trees that have been cut down and not sold. I feel i've 'done my bit' for the environment by going with the 'faux'.

patty_cakes

YEA & HURRAY for the birds who get a decoreated "dead" Christams tree just for them.
I recycled a drift wood pine tree a few years ago. Hauled it home from Lake Superior. I refurbished a Christmas tree stand for outside. Planted my "tree" added dirt & ivy. A bird deposited a "prickley cane" of some kind in it, no berries or flowers in 4 years though.

Vangy does more than play in the dirt.

My problem with artificial trees is, they are still going to be laying in some landfill 1000 yrs from now, while live(or dead) christmas trees will return to the earth. And most trees on tree lots are grown on farms specifically for use as christmas trees. It's not like they're being chopped down out of old growth forests:)

Lydia:

Oh, I'm just like you. I, too, feel sorry for the poor trees that get cut down and never bought. LOL! Hubby just rolls his eyes. I use an artificial tree. The town where I live has two Christmas tree farms. The city near where I live mulches them for free. People out in the country just throw theirs on their burn piles or leave them on the side of the roads.

i also feel sorry for the trees that were cut & not bought. then i think of the families who couldn't afford a tree and wonder why the lots w/unsold trees at 6pm christmas eve don't put up a sign saying "free trees"
that would make a good letter to the editor of our local paper,now that i think about it.....

Hi there,
I put my tree (water bucket and all) in the back yard, and decorated it with birdy edible decorations! Lo and behold, yesterday I saw Ms. Jenny Wren looking it all over and bringing twigs to see if they would fit for her house!!! She usually builds her nest in a flower pot on the back porch, so we'll see if she likes the tree better this year. I promised her that I would keep hauling water to it if she wanted to build there :^)

If you're into gardening with your kids, prop it up outside against the house until every single one of the needles fall off..In the spring, "plant" it in the middle of a good sized circular area which has been tilled and had the soil worked up good. ( you may want to strip off some off the bottom branches to give yourself a long trunk) Plant 4 "hills" of cucumber seeds, one on all sides, and as they grow the vines will climb the Christmas tree branches, and before you know it, your kids will have a cucumber tree..WE did this one year, and it was amazing how the vines would grow out the branches, and the cucs even looked like ornaments hanging on the tree!

I found this site sort of late for '05's tree, but its an idea for next year :-)