Everyday Chemistry - Tips to Preserve Your Christmas Tree.

Christmas is the festival of giving and receiving. Everything right from Santa Claus and the gifts to snowflakes and candy are special to us. But the one thing without which Christmas is incomplete is the Christmas tree!

A real Christmas tree is much more fun to decorate than buying the fake ones. However, they dry up very quickly compared to the fake ones. A few simple ingredients or chemical combinations as we like to think of them, can make all the difference to the freshness of your Christmas tree. Here is how you can make it:

Things that you need:

a) Flowers

b) 1 gallon water

c) 2 cups of light corn syrup

d) 4 teaspoons of chlorine bleach

e) 4 teaspoons of lemon or vinegar

Steps:

Mix all the ingredients and place the solution in the base for your Christmas tree vase along with the flowers.

However while mixing the ingredients you need to remember that when bleach and vinegar are mixed, they produce vapours and it is toxic in nature. Hence it is a better idea to add vinegar to water instead of directly adding it to the bleach.

If you do not have corn syrup, you can add 4 teaspoons of sugar dissolved in water. Another substitute for corn syrup is an aerated drink. Adding a can of aerated water or soft drink to a gallon of water and a dash of bleach will also act as an excellent preservative for your Christmas tree. Adding a coin or a penny is a good idea as copper acts as a fungicide and as an acidifier.

In order for the tree and flowers to last longer, make sure you keep it in cooler areas and away from direct sunlight.

Make sure you fill the vase continuously with water where the Christmas tree sits. Also, in addition to this, try spraying water on the Christmas tree using a spray bottle.

Store the solution for 4 - 5 days in cool area or in a refrigerator. Make sure you keep it out of the reach of children and pets. It is a good idea to label it in order to avoid such mishaps.

Once your 4 - 5 days are up, the floral preservative for your Christmas tree is ready!

So let us make our Christmas tree last longer and wait for Mr. Santa to knock your door and place the gifts under your green Christmas tree.