When it comes to Christmas trees, are you team fake tree or real tree?

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The Great Christmas Tree Debate

When it comes to Christmas trees I feel like there's always a debate between people who prefer real trees and people who prefer fake trees.  To be completely honest with you, I was team fake tree all the way, until my husband talked me into getting a real tree.

Growing up, we always had fake trees, and they're pretty low maintenance once you set them up, so I thought it was the way to go.  However since my husband and I bought our first house a few years ago we've been getting real trees, and to be honest, even though they're a little more work, I will deal with watering the tree and the pine needles over having to fluff artificial tree branches ever again.  But that's just me!

A Few Pros for Real Trees

1. It's more environmentally friendly as a real tree helps support tree farmers, and is 100% biodegradable unlike artificial.
2. Picking out the perfect real tree has become one of my favorite Christmas traditions.
3. No fluffing fake branches. My LEAST favorite thing about having a fake tree was having to fluff the branches when you pull it out of the storage box, the branches are always pokey.
4. You don't have to store it all year.
5. The smell! I love the smell of a real tree.

Real Tree Cons

1. You have to remember to water it.
2. You do a lot of vacuuming and sweeping to clean up pine needles and to be honest you'll find them in your house all year.
3. You also have to trim the branches sometimes to fit your space, and the tree sizes aren't always consistent (although personally, I think the different branch sizes add character).

Fake Tree Pros

1. No going to a tree lot... so it saves you a trip to a tree lot.
2. No watering it
3. No dropped needles, sometimes I do question my sanity when I'm cleaning up pine needles every day.
4. Come in all colors if you don't want a green one.
5. No squirrels hiding in them when you get them home (you serious Clark?)

Fake Tree Cons

1. Not the most environmentally friendly as they're typically not biodegradable.
2. No pine smell in your home (now this may be a pro if you don't like the smell).
3. You have to find a place to store it in your home when you aren't using it.
4. Fluffing branches are a pain.

As you can see from the above list both types of trees have their own pros and cons.  If you do decide to buy a real tree, did you know the Hoosier state grows a whole lot of them?

Indiana Ranks 11th In the Country for Growing Christmas Trees

Indiana is known for growing a lot of things, and we even rank in the top dozen states for Christmas tree production.  According to AgriNews-Pub.Org Indiana is home to over 200 tree farms and they harvest nearly 200,000 Christmas trees annually.

As a Christmas tree producing state, Indiana ranks No. 11 in the nation with 200 tree farms producing almost 200,000 harvestable trees per year, according to the Indiana Christmas Tree Growers Association.

AgriNews-Pub.Org also shares some really cool Christmas tree growing facts, like for every Christmas tree that is harvested there are 1-3 seedlings that are planted the following spring to take its place.   It also usually takes about 7 years for Christmas trees to grow to the right height to be harvested, but it CAN take up to 15 years.