Applying & Removing Christmas Lights from Trees in the Yard

It's that time of year when people are busy putting up their Christmas decorations. I recently received a question from a person asking if it hurt trees to wrap all those lights around its trunk. This is a terrific tree care question - I suppose if the lights are left wrapped around a tree for many years, it could girdle the tree. Most people remove their lights at the end of the holiday season, so this should not be a major concern. The thought could also be that the heat given off by the lights could heat up the trunk, causing the sap to start to flow within the tree. It is an interesting thought, but I really don't think enough heat will be produced by those little bulbs to cause such a thing to happen.Damage to the tree is not so much from putting up the lights, but from taking them down. When you string lights through a tree and possibly wrap them around the branches to hold them in place, care has to be taken when you remove the lights. You don't want to stand on the ground and just pull the lights down, possibly breaking branches or stripping off the buds of next year's growth.Try to remember where you stopped straining your lights. Basically, you want to remove the lights in the opposite manner in which they were put up. You most likely spent a good deal of time carefully placing the lights in the tree when you first put them up. When it's time to remove the lights, don't rush it. This is especially true in northern climates where branches may be brittle due to cold temperatures.Christmas lights can really make your trees look beautiful during the holiday season. If you also want them to look beautiful come spring, be careful taking off the lights.