How do you keep your (real) Xmas tree watered?

[Anonymous]

We’ve had our tree up for about a week, and it will stay up until Jan. 6. Every year, I low-key stress about keeping it watered. It sucks up a ton, and needs the stand refilled morning and night.

Are there any hacks for this? Some sort of gadget? Have the youths on the InstaTokNet taken a break from glass skin and skibidee toilet wars to tackle this pressing problem?

[Anonymous]

I’m used to making the water rounds, what with our multiple pets, so one extra “pet” doesn’t make a difference, OP. 😄

[Anonymous]

We had real trees for years and tried all the hacks, but nothing ever worked better than one person being assigned to water the tree with a big plastic bucket of water every night before lights out. Do it at night when the house is cool. It will drink more and less will evaporate from the tree stand. You also have to start with a really good quality tree that's freshly cut and soaked for 24 hours in a bucket. It's a whole thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I’m used to making the water rounds, what with our multiple pets, so one extra “pet” doesn’t make a difference, OP. 😄

PP above - YES. It really works best when one person is responsible for the watering. There's no "did you do it? No did you do it?" sort of thing going on.

[Anonymous]

I bought a real, real tree op! With roots and all, and I water it as any real plant. I will then plant it in my back yard.

[Anonymous]

We got one of those stands with a water gauge but I just water it when it needs it. At this point, it doesn't need water more than every couple days, but probably a bigger tree needs more

[Anonymous]

It's just part of my nightly routine before I go to bed... you could set a daily alarm on your phone to remind you.

[Anonymous]

I have a super long funnel that I found at Home Depot or somewhere like that years ago. It’s green and red, and my secret is that I put it through the branches into the stand toward the back of the tree and just leave it there. My stand has a gauge that pops up to show the water level, and I know how many large cups of water it takes to get it back to full. Makes it much easier.
So: 2 gadgets: a long funnel and a stand that has a built in water gauge.

[Anonymous]

We have the watering funnel and a small
HD bucket. So the tree gets about a a gallon a day but no bending down.

[Anonymous]

I just get my 58 year old self on the ground, check the level every other night and hope that I can get back up.

[Anonymous]

We add water daily to it.

[Anonymous]

A watering can

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a super long funnel that I found at Home Depot or somewhere like that years ago. It’s green and red, and my secret is that I put it through the branches into the stand toward the back of the tree and just leave it there. My stand has a gauge that pops up to show the water level, and I know how many large cups of water it takes to get it back to full. Makes it much easier.
So: 2 gadgets: a long funnel and a stand that has a built in water gauge.

We have something similar. It blends in with the tree and isn’t noticeable. Each morning I water the tree.

[Anonymous]

Steer clear of to many gadgets / auto watering gizmos. A friend had one (not sure what it was but something with a timer) and it leaked all over her wood floors and caused some damage.

[Anonymous]

Unpopular opinion: we don’t water our live trees and never have. We put them up Thanksgiving weekend, and take them down Jan 1-3. Yes, we lose many needles on the day we take it down, but other than that, the tree is fine and doesn’t lose needles for 3-4 weeks. No fires.