Speaker 1: Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works a brain stuff,
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. And during the final month of the year,
Speaker 1: or sometimes much sooner, vast numbers of harvested trees begin
Speaker 1: their migration indoors, where they are festooned with ribbons, garlands, ornaments,
Speaker 1: and lights. Although these trees are grown in the spirit
Speaker 1: of Christmas, they don't magically or genetically aspire to a
Speaker 1: perfectly peaked shape. After Christmas trees reach a height of
Speaker 1: about three to four feet that's around one meter, orchard
Speaker 1: workers start helping the shape along with a process called shearing.
Speaker 1: The trees do most of their new growth in the spring,
Speaker 1: after that starts hardening up. In the summer, workers shear
Speaker 1: each tree individually with long, sharp knives. The most common
Speaker 1: types of Christmas tree are douglas for cannon for frasier fur,
Speaker 1: and several species of spruce or pine. However, out of
Speaker 1: these six hundred and thirty species of conifers in the world,
Speaker 1: the majority don't actually grow in a strictly conical shape,
Speaker 1: so trimming is a crucial task when growing these specimens
Speaker 1: meant to become Christmas trees. This pruning process must continue
Speaker 1: every summer until the trees reach a marketable age, which
Speaker 1: usually takes six to eight years. So why do Christmas
Speaker 1: celebrants demand pyramiddle trees during the holidays. The notions behind
Speaker 1: much of the world's traditional Christmas decor originated in Northern
Speaker 1: Europe and particularly Germany, where enduring images and tails from
Speaker 1: the mid nineteenth century still ensure that sugar plums are
Speaker 1: dancing for our heads and that our Christmas trees are
Speaker 1: conical in that part of the world. Evergreen trees are
Speaker 1: pyramid shaped for good reason. Each needle leaf layer has
Speaker 1: a better opportunity to gather sunlight for photosynthesis if the
Speaker 1: sun isn't blocked by wide top layers. This tiered arrangement
Speaker 1: allows the trees to shake off heavy snowfall and the
Speaker 1: wide spaces between branches that the winds whip through without
Speaker 1: causing too much damage. Although synthetic Christmas trees don't generally
Speaker 1: drop needles on the floor or pose a fire damage
Speaker 1: by drying out, they can't replicate the experience of selecting
Speaker 1: a Christmas tree, and for a lot of people, it
Speaker 1: just isn't Christmas without the piney smell of a freshly
Speaker 1: cut tree. Millions of consumers agree. According to the National
Speaker 1: Christmas Tree Association, in a consumer survey revealed that the
Speaker 1: sales of real Christmas trees outpaced to those of fake
Speaker 1: trees twenty seven point four million to eighteen point six million.
Speaker 1: And as they grow and await their moment in the spotlight,
Speaker 1: these real Christmas trees provide homes for wild birds and
Speaker 1: animals while storing carbon and generating oxygen. And best of all,
Speaker 1: the trees are renewable resource. When one is cut, a
Speaker 1: new one is planted in its place. Most people who
Speaker 1: buy real Christmas trees select pre cut versions sold at
Speaker 1: retail lots, garden centers, and chain stores. Only of those
Speaker 1: who opt for the real thing go out and cut
Speaker 1: their own. Today's episode was written by Laurie L. Dove
Speaker 1: and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and
Speaker 1: lots of other carefully shaped topics, visit our home planet,
Speaker 1: How Stuff Works dot hum