The carols have all been sung. The ornaments have long been
safely packed away.
That dead Christmas tree, though, can provide one last
benefit from the holidays, says a University of Georgia scientist.

“The big question is what not to do with it,” said Jeff Jackson, an Extension
Service wildlife scientist with the UGA Warnell
School of Forest Resources. “What you don’t want to do
is take it to the
curb.”

Jackson said this annual spent-tree problem is a golden
opportunity to look at your
yard philosophy.

“What is a Christmas tree anyway that your yard doesn’t
have already?” he
asked. “If you had a yard full of Christmas trees, putting
out this new one wouldn’t
make any difference.

“If you have some nice areas of dense thicket, you could
put the tree in there and
let it decompose,” he said. “Then it could do its thing for
the environment, as
opposed to taking it to the curb.”

A decomposing Christmas tree could provide valuable food
for insects and worms, as well
as a good hiding place for birds and other creatures.

If you’re like most people, though, you had only that
single dead tree in an otherwise
tidy yard.

“Most people have yards where they’ve declared war on
thicket cover,” Jackson
said. “They get a nice, woody lot, keep all the big trees
and get rid of all the
small stuff.”

But the small stuff is what the wildlife likes. “You
can’t get wildlife back with
one thing – not even a dead Christmas tree,” he said.

Some people try to lure wildlife by putting food on the
Christmas tree when they
discard it.

“Food on a dry Christmas tree is no better than food put
somewhere else, like a
bird feeder or an existing thicket,” Jackson said. “The food
and the tree don’t
have to go together.”

That old Christmas tree can remind you of better ways to
take care of wildlife, Jackson
said. Here’s how he’d do it.

“I would create an area of untidy thicket where little
birds, like cardinals and
white-throated sparrows, could go and be happy and
comfortable rather than just sitting on
the grass,” he said.

“It’s a way to save time, effort and money in yard work,”
he said.
“Instead of taking that tree to the curb, put it there with
other branches and yard
wastes that don’t have to be taken away. It contributes to a
wildlife habitat.”

It also contributes to the environment.

“You’re recycling it,” Jackson said. “This wonderful,
decorative
ornament that has turned into garbage can be turned into
humus.”

Another suggestion is to sink that leftover Christmas
tree in a pond for fish to hang
out in. Anchor it in a large coffee can with concrete. The
concrete weights the tree down
so it stands upright on the bottom.

These natural fish attractors draw bream and bass into
the area and offer a safe haven
for young fish. For safety, though, put the tree away from
swimming areas.

You could chip the tree, too, for mulch you can use in
your landscape or stuff a bed
for a pet.