a perpetual tree soon on the market

Artificial or natural tree? A North Carolina university (NCSU) has everyone in agreement.

We are made to believe that Nordmanns do not lose their needles. Despite this, the whole “natural fir” team knows it: after a few weeks, you have to take out the vacuum cleaner. As soon as the children or the dog get a little too close, it’s a mess on the floor. Which is normal: all cut fir trees eventually dry out and therefore lose their thorns.

All except a new variety developed by researchers at North Carolina State University in the United States. Not only does their new tree grow faster and in a perfect cone shape. But above all, once cut, it can remain for more than six months without losing its needles. This means we could keep it until Easter without having to vacuum.

According to scientists’ observations, even if it is truly dried out, this new tree will only lose 1 to 2% of its thorns, usually just at the periphery. So we will never have a completely leafless tree. If you take good care of it, you can easily bring it out for subsequent Christmases. Which might even give pause to those on the “artificial tree” team.

Not commercialized before 2030

This new variety was created by genetic selection. The researchers started with Fraser fir, a species of American conifer that retains its thorns even better than Nordmann. Next, they identified the genes that allow them to stay feathered. And they bred the best specimens. It was in 2018. Five years later, the trees reached maturity. They produce seeds. This will now allow their marketing.

But it’s a failure for this season. The seeds are barely emerging from the plots. They still need to be distributed to nurseries. However, knowing that we have to wait six or seven years for them to reach between 1.5 and 2 meters, it will not be before 2030 that we will be able to buy these perpetual fir trees.