Capitol Christmas Tree Provides Valuable Research

Last week the 2013 Capitol Christmas Tree was lit in Washington D.C. -- the 88-foot tall Spruce tree had humble beginnings on Washington state’s Colville National Forest. And although the tree is now providing ohhs and ahhs to D.C. audiences -- it also has provided valuable research to Washington State University Extension.

WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center Research Assistant Katie McKeever explains that through the 25-day trip across the country foliage samples were taken from the tree and sent to McKeever to discover what kind of moisture loss occurred. Also there were three small sensors on the tree which helped to learn about the tree’s travel conditions.

McKeever explains how the Capitol tree information will help Christmas tree growers in the future to improve moisture retention in cut Christmas trees through her PHD advisor’s -- Dr. Gary Chastagner’s -- long-time research.

McKeever: “This program that he has been fostering for years and years and years has helped to give information to growers to choose the best trees for quality and for moisture retention. Because some species of Christmas tree are better at retaining needles and retaining moistures are better than other species. And even some seed sources or genotypes within species are better than others. It helps growers understand what kind of species are best and provenance are best. It helps retailers understand how to keep trees fresher for longer. so he provides information on how to treat trees and how to handle them after they are cut -- post-harvest treatment.”