Keep Your Christmas Tree Watered While You're Away

Ok folks, one last post before we head to the in-laws for a week. 

We almost always go away for Christmas but I just can't stand the thought of not having a Christmas tree to enjoy.  This year we're gone for a little bit longer than usual AND my family will be coming for New Years so I want my tree to last extra long.  Wanna keep that yummy pine scent around as long as possible!

I did some searching and I came across this great instructable on making a watering system for your Christmas tree. Since ya'll can head to the site and read for yourself I thought I'd just touch on the important points.


I didn't bother disguising it as a Christmas present since we aren't going to be around, but what a clever idea!  I found some old hose downstairs with two regular female hose-ends and used an old 5 gallon pail we had kickin around.





FIRST KEY POINT:  Measure how deep the resevoir of your tree stand is (if you have one). I just grabbed an old measuring tape.  DO NOT FILL YOUR PAIL DEEPER THAN THIS HEIGHT. You will end up with a soggy mess when you get home.  There is physics involved....but that's not a strong subject for me. Make sure you have water already in the tree stand resevoir.

SECOND: Submerge your hose COMPLETELY in your pail of water. Jimmy it around a bit until air bubbles stop coming up. There can't be any air left in the hose for the siphon to work.

THIRD: Jam your fingers into either end of the hose creating a tight seal while it's still under water. Keep one end in the pail and move the other end to the resevoir of the tree stand. DO NOT REMOVE YOUR FINGER UNTIL THE END IS COMPLETELY SUBMERGED.  This was pretty tricky since there wasn't much room to manoever.

To test your siphon, grab a big glass of water and add it to your bucket.  You should be able to see the water level rise in the stand resevoir.  If nothing changes, take the hose out and try again. Try, try again.  It took me four tries, but the big ends on my hose made it really difficult to create a tight seal with my finger.

I thought this was pretty snazzy! Three cheers for a nice green Christmas tree when we come home!