Here are three simple tips that will help your Christmas tree stay green and hold its needles longer: 

1)  Just before placing your tree in the stand, cut off 2 inches from the trunk bottom so there is a fresh wood exposed to submerge in the water.  If the cut surface has dried out after being cut it can no longer take up water.

2)  Always refill the stand reservoir with clean warm water through the holidays.  All cut plants & flowers take up warm water much better than cold water.

3)  Do not place any fresh fruit like bananas, apples, or pears in the same room as your tree.  Many fruits emit a natural vapor of ethylene gas that stimulates ripening.  The effect of this gas on a cut evergreen tree is to trigger it to drop its needles.  Keep all fresh fruit well away from your tree and you’ll be sweeping up fewer needles.

When you do clean up needles remember to add them to your compost or spread them as mulch.  Pine needles do not acidify the soil but provide excellent organic matter to the soil.  Re-purpose the tree as a decorative winter bird shelter and bird feeder with strings of popcorn.