The Ridiculously Thorough Guide to Cleaning Christmas Pine Needle

Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Christmas, happy holiday and have a happy New Year. Christmas is around the corner, and whether you are Christian or not, most of us have celebrated Christmas as a secular holiday. Because who doesn’t like to share and receive gifts? Christmas is the time of year that you get to share with your family (be it blood or chosen) and is one time of year that most people get to take leaves from their jobs to visit and spend time with their loved ones. Christmas trees are the centerpiece of every home when it comes to this specific holiday. If you get a real tree, it might smell very good, but it is a real hassle to clean all those fallen pine needles.

Christmas tree care

If taken care of properly, most real Christmas trees last about 5 weeks before they start to decay, and all their pine needles start to fall out. Once you get your tree home, trim the base as this will help it absorb water properly and make the tree last longer, and it won’t shed as many pine needles. Ensure that the tree has enough water at all times; as a rule of thumb, add one quart of water for every inch of the trunk’s diameter. You should also keep your tree away from any heat source as this will dry up the tree and make it easier for the pine needles to fall out. Finally, the best thing you can do is to take the tree out before it dries out. This will save you the hassle of cleaning too much, and this will also make your future self to thank you. If you wait for too long, the more dead pine needles you’ll have to deal with, you can always put the pine needles in your composting bin and let them decay there and become homemade compost. This is how you can minimize pine shedding:

1. Make a path

Prior to bringing the tree inside your home, create a clear path for the tree. Move your furniture and carpet out of the way as this will reduce the risk of brushing up against something; this might cause pine needles to fall. It’s also harder to clean them on certain surfaces, and the shedding needles may be a pesky thing to clean.

2. Keep it fresh

Always check the water at the base of your tree and make sure that there is always water in that bugger as if it starts to dry up, then the needles will start to fall like snow. By cutting the tree at the base, you allow the tree to absorb the water more efficiently, but this doesn’t mean that the tree won’t shed, but rather it means that the latter will shed later down the line. Also, try placing your tree in a cooler spot.

3. Minimize traffic

Place down your tree in a spot that doesn’t have much traffic and put it somewhere where you won’t bump into the tree. If you can keep the tree away from furniture and carpet as these are harder to clean compared to hardwood floors.

The best way to clean pine needle

The key to cleaning pine needles is to clean as they shed and as early and often as you can because they will amass very easy, and when they do pile up, it is a nightmare to clean. It is also easy to clean a small pine needle, while a pile is harder to clean.

1. Vacuum attachment

Don’t run your regular vacuum right over the pine needle! This is a big no-no as they will jam up the roller brush but can also destroy your vacuum. Rather, use a crevice attachment or hose and fit it on your vacuum. Make sure you put a new bag in or empty the canister before you vacuum the pine needles, as they will fill up your vacuum pretty quickly. These pesky bulky needles take up a lot of space, and you need to be careful while vacuuming them.

2. Rubber broom

It is harder to pick pine needles with your standard bristle broom but using a rubber broom corrals makes it easier for you to pick up the shredding pine needle. If you don’t have a rubber broom, then I’ve found that getting on your knees (get your mind out of the gutters) and hands and getting a dust brush and this will work pretty efficiently. Doing this fairly often will make it easy to clean if you are doing this fairly often.

3. Lint rollers

A lint roller is a pretty versatile item to have, and it comes in very handy to get rid of those pesky pine needles. I wouldn’t recommend you use it to clean up the whole floor, because you’ll have to replace the sheet time and again and this might run on the pricier side. If you are cheap like me, you can also DIY one by wrapping duct tape inside-out around your hand, and this will do this job as well as the lint roller.

Sound off in the comments section below and tell us your favorite holiday. Mine is Halloween because it is the one time of year that you get to dress up as crazily as you want and is also the time when you can get drunk and eat candies while being dressed like a nun.