How can I protect a pot grown Christmas tree when putting it outside?

Mmm, yes thats a very good point thank you. I guess it'd be different if i were putting it out in below freezing temps & onto an inch of ice!

thats interesting! I'll look in to that thank you

 

Well it went out on saturday, wrapped up well in the fleece all the way around Down to floor level. I'm glad it had the fleece on because sunday was cold & windy here!

Not sure when to take the fleece off? what should prompt me to remove it do you think? Length of time?
temperature?

 

Well mine is still in the plastic greenhouse at the moment along with the delicates. Once I’m happy the frosts have finished I’ll plant it out. We are still getting morning frost here in Glos although I’m expecting matters to improve very soon …

 

Yes it's still between -1 and -3 here during the night, so I was planning on waiting until it either been out 6wks or so, or until the temp increase significantly above freezing... hopefully that will be both!

 

OP, if you decide to leave it out permanently, I can confirm that Nordmann Fir in a pot is fully winter hardy, at least in London it is.

One of our members has a 40cm specimen that has been left out for a couple of years without a problem. It has turned an anaemic yellow/green due to lack of nutrients but it still produces growth and cones every year.


Here is one of my own christmas tree rescues:





The interior needles and small branches have died off due to lack of sunlight - this is normal.



I found this tree discarded in some bushes, potless and laying on its side in June 2021. It only had a few speckles of green (maybe about 10% at most) on the side that was facing up. The rest had turned brown.

I removed all of the dead needles and potted it up with a 30% sharp sand, 70% top soil mix and placed it within 10m of a line of tree canopies. It was watered almost every day between April and September.

This is the first year that it has turned fully green - the pictures above show the side that was originally facing down.

It just goes to show that a sickly tree can recover given the right conditions and consistent maintenance.

This tree took almost 4 years, I have another conifer (different species) which took 8 years to recover from 30% green so be patient and keep on it.

 

wow thats amazing, thanks so much for sharing all that!