Christmas Tree Blog

Most every retailer of fresh Christmas trees advertises “quality” Christmas trees, but what does this really mean? What are the standards by which a purchaser should judge the quality of a real Christmas tree?

If a fresh Christmas tree is purchased on a Christmas tree lot or at a cut-your-own Christmas tree farm, most consumers know how to judge freshness and they use the “eye-ball” standard of quality of appearance (i.e., they size up the Christmas tree visually to determine the aesthetic quality). Like beauty, quality is in the eye of the beholder. However, an on-line purchaser of a real Christmas tree needs to rely more heavily on the representations of the on-line retailer with respect to both freshness and other quality standards.

The United States Department of Agriculture has established standards for grading the quality of real Christmas trees. In descending order, the quality grades defined by the USDA standards are: “

· “Fresh” – the needles on the Christmas tree are “green, pliable and firmly attached”

· “Clean” – the tree is not cluttered with foreign material

· “Healthy” – the tree’s needles have a “fresh, natural appearance” typical for the species

· “Well shaped” – sufficient branches in number and length to form a symmetrical cone-shape tapering upward from the base of the tree

· “Density” – the amount of branches and needles on a tree

A “US Premium” grade real Christmas tree has the following characteristics: fresh, clean healthy, well-shaped, high density, three faces with only one minor defect and the remaining face with no more than one minor defect. For these purposes, a “minor defect” is a “slight imperfection” caused by handling of the tree.

A “US No. 1” real Christmas tree is fresh, fairly clean, healthy, well-shaped, three faces with no more than 2 minor defects and the remaining face no more than one noticeable defect. A “noticeable defect” is an imperfection in the development of the tree or one caused by handling in either case materially affecting the tree’s overall appearance.

If purchasing a real Christmas tree on-line, a consumer should confirm that the quality representations are consistent with the USDA standards. The best way to do this, if the website does not clearly state the basis for any claims of “quality”, is to ask the on-line retailer if the asserted quality is based on the USDA quality standards for grading real Christmas trees.

For further information regarding the USDA standards, you can see a pdf copy of the USDA’s “United States Standards for grade of Christmas Trees”, reprinted January 1997 at Christmas Tree Standards.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 12th, 2007 at 9:23 pm and is filed under Christmas Trees. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.