Christmas Trees and Mold

1/11/2018 (Permalink)

4 Ways To Reduce Christmas Tree Mold Levels

Live Christmas trees may bring more than the fresh pine scent of the holiday season into homes.  With most trees cut in advance of the holidays and stored in a moist environment for fresh keeping, this makes them a likely mold source. 

Here are a few tips to help you cut the Christmas mold level in your home, without giving up the fresh tree:

Limit The Time You Leave Your Tree Up

 The longer the tree is inside of your home, the higher the mold level may be.  If those in your household are prone to mold allergies, but don’t want to give up the fresh Christmas tree, consider putting the tree up Christmas Eve and taking it down on New Year’s Day.  Try to keep a live tree in your home between 4-7 days at maximum.

 Wash Your Tree

Before bringing the freshly cut tree inside of your home, wash it first using the garden hose.  Set the nozzle to a hard-spray level to get into all of those little nooks and crannies of the trunk.  Then, wipe the trunk thoroughly with a solution of warm water and bleach (1 part bleach to 20 parts water).  Let it dry in the sun before bringing it inside of your home.

 Use an Air Purifier

 Run an air purifier in the same room as the fresh tree.  Cleaner air is key during the holidays, and helps to reduce your mold exposure and lessen the effects of your tree allergies.

Go Fake

The best way to avoid the mold infestation is to buy an artificial tree.  Unless you store your artificial tree inside of a sealed plastic bag, it will still need a good shaking outside when it’s brought out of storage each year to relieve it of dust.  Also, store all of your Christmas ornaments and decorations in plastic containers (instead of cardboard ones) to keep the dust off of them.

If you see signs of mold, call SERVPRO!