Pining for that perfect tree

By KATHERINE HOBY

A Christmas tree costs as little as $5 in Tauranga, but the same specimen in Auckland could set you back $60.

Buyers will pay between $20 and $30 for a 183cm (6ft) tree if they shop around.

Prices outside Auckland appear significantly cheaper.

In Rotorua, Tauranga and Hamilton a good-sized, fairly bushy tree can still be bought for about $15.

Consumers Institute chief executive David Russell cautioned that Christmas tree sales were "the ultimate free market".

"Shop around, haggle, and use your head," he said.

People buying trees from roadside hawkers or from houses would probably not be covered by consumer law as the sellers were not in trade, said Mr Russell.

Trees from the Rotorua East Bowling Club cost between $10 and $25 for a bushy 4m specimen.

The club decided 10 years ago to plant out one of their three bowling greens as their major fundraising venture.

Club member John Hannam said the seedlings, bought from nearby Forest Research for 50c each, took two or three years to grow, with 400 harvested a year.

"We planted the trees the first year and it just took off.

"People like the fact that they were individual trees."

Sean and Nikki Mulligan, of Alfriston Christmas Tree Farm, said they almost went without sleep during the three-week frenzy before Christmas.'

The business, which involves thousands of pine trees on 1.6ha, is a family affair for the couple and their two children, Alexandra and Cameron.

Mrs Mulligan said the overwhelming feeling from long-time customers was that "the real pine smell means Christmas to them".

"It's a fantastic smell. You wake up, smell it in the air and know its Christmas."

The couple agreed that most customers had no idea of the amount of work that went into raising the trees.

"Someone once asked me if we stood on the fence and scattered pine seeds around, and left them for a year," Mrs Mulligan said.

The reality is that seedlings must be planted just the right width apart so they neither grow low branches that are too unwieldy, or overshadow each other.

They are carefully pruned several times during the four-year life cycle of a 183cm tree.

Trees should be cut in the morning before it gets hot, or at dusk.

Some trees are marked as sold when tree buyers are browsing so that they have a chance to grow into taller pines for next year's buyers.

The Alfriston farm will supply 30 trees today for use in creating a dramatic entranceway for a private screening of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in Auckland.

Kaitey Pink and Danielle Tattersfield-Bergin started Tree Wise Men in Mt Wellington 13 years ago with a "Xmas Trees For Sale" sign scrawled on a cardboard box flap.

They sold 50 trees that year.

The number should be well into the thousands this year.

Their starting price for a tree is $10.

"I think everyone who wants a tree should have one," Mrs Tattersfield-Bergin.

Although a Christmas tree might trigger a warm glow, the tradition is said to have started with an angry monk.

Legend says that England's St Boniface, who travelled to Germany to teach in the 7th century, was furious when he saw pagans revering an oak tree.

He hacked it down, but when a fir tree sprang up on the same spot, St Boniface decided to use the tree's triangular shape as a teaching tool to describe the Trinity.

By the 12th century, Central Europeans were hanging fir trees - upside down - from ceilings at Christmas.

Credit for the the decorated tree, right side up, goes to 16th-century German theologian Martin Luther, who was inspired one Christmas Eve when he saw snow-dusted evergreen branches shimmering in the moonlight.

Luther went home, set up a small fir tree for his children and adorned it with candles in honour of Christ's birth.

* Be warned: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry inspectors in West Auckland are looking out for people taking Christmas trees through the painted apple moth spray zone without permits.

TREE PRICES

AUCKLAND

Prices vary widely. Most trees cost between $20 and $30, but there have been reports of average-sized trees being sold for up to $60.

Adrian Thompson was selling trees for $20 and $30 on the roadside in Orakei.

TAURANGA

Some roadside sellers have trees on sale for as little as $5. The Christmas Tree Farm, on State Highway 2 between Tauranga and Te Puke, sells pines for between $15 and $30.

ROTORUA

A Rotorua East Bowling Club tree - grown on the club's unused bowling green - will cost anywhere from $10 to $25 for a 4m monster. Average price is $20.

Steve Ross sells trees beside the racecourse. He charges $10 to $20 for his pines.

HAMILTON

The Christmas Tree Farm, near the city, charges $12 to $38 for a shaped tree. St Nicks in Te Rapa sells $15 and $20 trees.

The Warehouse sells artificial trees. Their prices vary from $19.99 for a tree of approximately 1.2m, to $29.99 for a 1.8m tree and $119.99 for a 2.4m tree.

HINTS FOR TREE HEALTH

Aspirin, household bleach and sugar - white or brown - are just some of the revival aids popped into water to keep trees fresh. Sean Mulligan favours aspirin, because sugars may attract insects.

Stand the tree in a cool, well-ventilated corner of the lounge.

Try to keep the tree out of the sun. Ultra-violet rays would bleach it and dry it out.

The tree "drinks" the most water in the first three or four days, but needs regular checks and top-ups.

Soil clogs the stem. Use bricks and rocks for stability.

A seedling pine can be bought for less than $1, and costs about 50c in Rotorua.