METHODS TO PRESERVE CHRISTMAS TREES. Davis Barrow. Cary Academy ABSTRACT

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1 METHODS TO PRESERVE CHRISTMAS TREES Davis Barrow Cary Academy ABSTRACT The purpose of this experiment was to see different ways to protect a Christmas tree from losing needles. Christmas trees lose needles because of a gaseous called Ethylene; it is a hormone that tells the tree to shed. The experiment was conducted by placing three Christmas tree branches in 25mL of water, on with 1mL of bleach, one coated with hairspray, and one left dry. This experiment was performed to teach people how to preserve Christmas trees, it was concluded that hairspray and water protect the needles for the longest amount of time while bleach and no water kill the trees fastest. Hairspray and water both lost needles, bleach lost 48 needles, and nothing lost 31 needles, hairspray did so well because hairspray is designed to make things stick. INTRODUCTION Christmas trees lose needles because of a natural hormone in the tree called ethylene which is a gaseous that tells the Christmas tree to shed its needles. Ethylene is caused from natural environmental and physical factors, but it is also released from abuse to the tree. It s the same process that makes fruit ripen. This can be partially prevented from putting ethylene inhibitors in the water. Ethylene is a colorless, sweet tasting, and smelling gas. Ethylene can be found in natural gas, petroleum, and it is natural hormone in plants that makes them ripen or lose the leaves/needles. Ethylene is the starting material for a number of two-carbon compounds. The included products are ethanol, ethylene oxide, and others. Ethylene can be combined with other materials used in the making of synthetic rubber, and plastics. There are lots of myths floating around the internet as to how Christmas trees can be protected. One myth is feeding the Christmas trees lemonade in the water. This would add nourishment to the tree helping it maintain its cell structure. Vodka or bleach can kill off the bacteria in the water and in the tree protecting the tree from rotting. Another myth is about hairspray. Hairspray as it frizzes up hair also helps the needles stay on a Christmas tree; this trick is often used by

2 florists. Next it was believed that adding a penny to the water of the Christmas tree could help because copper and bronze are known to have disinfecting properties. Aspirin contains Salicylic a hormone white willows release when under stress. Theses hormones help a tree stay healthy and kill germs. Two Aspirins week should do the job. A medium amount of disinfectant such as pine sol will kill any bacteria in a Christmas tree, and protect the needles. One of the most important things a tree can get is water, regardless of the size or type. A 6ft tree needs a pint of water a day. The best known way to care for a Christmas tree is definitely not what the myths suggest. To care for the tree, make sure the tree has plenty of water never let it run dry. Cut a ½in disk off the trunk of the tree so the tree can absorb water. Place the tree in water as soon as the tree arrives. Don t get the fresh cut area bruised or dirty. If needed a tree can be stored in a cool damp area for a couple days, make sure the tree has water though. If the stand doesn t fit the tree get a new stand whittling the tree down to size will mess up the water intake. Make sure the area the tree is located in isn t next to a fireplace or heat vent. Lowering the room temp will slow the dying process. Use low heat lights on the tree and always turn them off when possible. Another thing that is believed when caring for Christmas trees is that nothing should be added to the water. Lastly, the tree needs to be checked to make sure the water is high up on the trunk. Previously an experiment was done testing whether plants grow better in the open, or in a terrarium. It was believed the plants in the terrarium would grow faster, and better than the plants in the bowl because the terrarium was more like a rain forest. The terrarium can be controlled so the plants get more oxygen. The materials needed for this experiment were plants, seeds, a plastic garden bowl, a glass bowl, a spray bottle, paper towels, soil, charcoal, and rocks. To do this experiment a plastic bowl was planted with already grown plants. The bowl was then filled with charcoal 1/8 of the way up the bowl on each environment so there would be charcoal and soil mixed on top of a layer of rocks. Next the bowl was filled with soil and alyssum seeds. Both the terrarium and the bowl received this treatment. Then three already grown plants were

3 placed in the different environments. After 4d the terrarium and the bowl had both grown one ml. After 6d the terrarium was at two ml, and the bowl was still at one. During a course of 15d the terrarium had separated itself from the bowl by about three ml, leaving the terrarium at 25mL, and the bowl at 22mL. The hypothesis was right as the plants grew better in a terrarium. The terrarium didn t only allow plants to grow better, they grew taller and bigger. Not to mention the terrarium grew more plants than the bowl. Also, the plants in the terrarium had grown more buds that were bigger. MATERIALS AND METHODS The materials used in these experiments were Christmas tree branches, beakers, hairspray, bleach, water, an incubator, traditional and led Christmas lights, dominos, a freezer, and lastly a refrigerator. Three Christmas trees branches were placed in beakers with 25mL of water, one containing 1mL of bleach, one with nothing, and one with a thorough coating of hairspray. The branches were left for 9d in their state, each day the needles that had fallen off were recorded. Four Christmas tree branches were placed in beakers of water with containing 25mL of water. One was placed on a table for room temperature, one in the freezer, one in the refrigerator, and one in the incubator on the fourth heat setting. The branches were left for 7d, each day the needles that had fallen off were recorded. Five Christmas tree branched were placed in 25mL of water, and then a triple beam balance was used to weight a domino, that was multiplied once, twice, three times, and four times. One, two, three, and four dominos all separate were wrapped in tape put on separate trees. One tree had 22g, another had 16.5g, next one had 11g, then one had 5.5g, lastly the control had g. The trees were then left for 6d, and each day the needles that had fallen off were measured. Three Christmas tree branches were placed in 25mL of water, and decorated with lights. One spool of traditional lights was used on one branch, one spool of led lights was used on the other

4 tree, and lastly one tree had no lights. The lights were left on 24/7 for 5d and each day the needles that had fallen off were recorded. One Christmas tree branch was placed in 25mL of water, the other was left dry. They were both left on heat setting four for 5d, and each day the needles that had fallen off were recorded. One Christmas tree branch was placed in 25mL of water, and one was left dry. They were then placed in the refrigerator, and left there for 5d. Each day the fallen needles were recorded. One Christmas tree branch was left alone in water, and one was dry with one spool of led lights, and two spools of traditional lights. The trees were then left for 4d, each day the needles that had fallen off were recorded. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

5 Amount of Needles that fell off Bleach Hairspray Water Nothing Figure 1: This data showed that water and hairspray both lost the least amount of needles ( needles both), bleach killed the most needles fastest (48 needles), and lastly the tree with nothing ranked second in losing needles (31 needles). This data was shown because hairspray is designed to make things stick, as it keeps hair in place, it does the same with needles. Water also is what trees are designed to use so that lost no needles too. When the tree had nothing it died, and all the needles fell off. The bleach is the most interesting part; it failed the job in purification and killed the tree.

6 Amount of Needles Lost Room Temp Frozen Cold Hot Figure 2: This graph showed that the hot tree lost the most needles (275 needles), both room temp and cold lost barely any needles (3 needles) and frozen didn t lose a single needle. This data was shown because when a tree heats up, the tree starts to die. The tree stayed very hot which killed it that made the needles drop like crazy. The room temperature tree had its proper amount of water and temperature and lost the suspected amount of needles. The cold Christmas tree was not much colder than the outside, and it also lost the suspected amount of needles. The frozen tree s water froze with the tree into solid ice, because of this the tree s needles couldn t fall off.

7 Amount of Needles that fell off Twenty Two Grams 6 Sixteen Point Five Grams Eleven Grams 4 Five Point Five Grams Zero Grams Figure 3: 22g lost the most needles (1 needles), but it took a long time to get started. 16.5g lost the second most needles (4 needles) pretty quickly. 11g lost barely any needles (1 needle) and it took a long time. Lastly, 5.5g lost no needles. The tree with g also didn t lose a needle. This data was shown because the more weight a tree had the more stress was put on it. That being said, the more weight, the more needles lost. The trend was more weight the faster and more needles lost. 22g took longer to lose the needles most likely because of where on the trunk the weight was placed.

8 Amount of Needles that fell off Led Lights Traditional Lights No Lights Figure 4: This graph shows the led lights lost the most needles (715 needles). Traditional lights lost the second most (146 needles). Lastly no lights lost barely needles. (7 needles). Led lights lost the most needles because they produced a slow steady heat all over the tree, as it was learned earlier Christmas trees die in the heat. Traditional lights lost the second most needles because of heat also. The traditional lights did produce more heat than the leds one on one, but there are tons of leds, and much less traditional lights. No lights lost 7 needles because there was no heat applied to the plant.

9 Amount of Needles that fell off in the Oven Water Nothing Figure 5: The tree in the oven with water lost the almost the same as the tree with nothing (152 needles with water, 153 without water). The reason that the trees lost such a close amount of needles is because regardless of water, heat kills the plant. The tree with nothing was just baked, and the needles fell off at the end where the tree with water tried to survive and slowly died.

10 Amount of Needles that fell off in the Refrigerator Water Nothing Figure 6: The tree with water in the refrigerator did very well needles were lost. The tree with nothing lost 1 needle showing that regardless of water, the cold helps the trees live. The tree with water lived longer than the other tree, because trees need water to survive, and one tree had water to drink.

11 Amount of Needles that fell off Extreme Water Figure 7: The tree with water lost very few needles (3 needles) and the extreme tree lost quite a few needles (55 needles). The extreme tree died so quickly because it had no water, and it had tons of lights (both kinds) the heat and no water combo killed the tree making it lose tons of needles. CONCLUSION This experiment showed that hairspray and normal Christmas tree care (water, and normal temp) keep the needles on the tree longest, while bleach and no water kill the tree. The hypothesis was correct, as hairspray did best protect the Christmas tree. These results are important because they can teach somebody how to preserve their Christmas tree s needles. This set of experiments has covered lots of topics, but there are always future experiments, one of those could be an

12 experiment testing whether or not light is good for the tree, another could test the myth about lemonade being good for the tree. CITATIONS Briggs, Alton and Dinah Zike. From Bacteria to Plants. New York: McGraw-Hill, 22. Print. Ethylene. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition. 6 (213) : page(s). EBSCO Student Research Center. Web. 23 January, 213. "Ethylene (H2C=CH2)." Britannica School.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 214. Web. 21 Jan < Hinesley, Eric. Caring for Your Christmas Tree. All About Christmas Trees. National Christmas Tree Association, January 21, 214. Web. January 14, 214. Vancleave, Janice P. A+ Projects in Chemistry. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Print. Why Christmas trees Lose their Needles. The Week. The Week, December 24, 21. Web. January 14, 214.