Oolai Qaunirq, Northmart’s produce supervisor, and Kenny Peters, the store’s produce manager, stand by one of the 100 trees that the North West Co. shipped to Iqaluit this year. (Photo courtesy of the NWC)
Live Christmas trees once again come to Nunavut
“These trees are new to a lot of people, so it’s breaking new ground”
Right now, Iqaluit is more than just the capital of Nunavut: it’s also home to the greatest number of live Christmas trees in the territory.
And some of the 150 mainly six-foot balsams flown into the city continue to wait in sea cans for their holiday homes in Iqaluit.
This December, 100 Christmas trees, along with some wreaths, went to Northmart, where the price averages $135 per tree, depending on the variety and size.
Another 50 went to Arctic Ventures, which charges a flat $115 per tree.
Both stores have brought in live trees for years, but they’re still somewhat of a novelty above the tree line.
At Northmart, a decorated Christmas tree is on display near the store entrance to entice customers.
If customers want one, “we take them outside and they can pick their tree and go home with it,” said John Kelly, the store’s general manager.
While the live Christmas trees continue to sell steadily, he said the store also brought in about 100 artificial trees.
At Arctic Ventures, assistant manager Troy LeBlanc said he plans to put up a live Christmas tree this year—his first since arriving in the North 13 years ago.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
The live trees for sale at Arctic Ventures are all balsams, and they’re all one size, about six feet tall.
Artificial trees continue to be big sellers, he said, with some potential live-tree buyers having some worries.
One woman asked LeBlanc whether there were bugs on the trees.
“If they are, they are frozen,” LeBlanc said he told her. That’s because they’re stored in a sea can near the store.
“It’s a plant,” LeBlanc said. “And these trees are new to a lot of people, so it’s breaking new ground.”
Live Christmas trees are also on sale in a few other Nunavut communities.
The North West Co. brings live trees and wreaths to Rankin Inlet, Baker Lake and Cambridge Bay, where the local store, Kalgen’s, also orders in trees.
Some residents of Kugluktuk even head out by snowmobile 60 kilometres south to the tree line to chop down a Christmas tree.
Mission accomplished: Nooks Lindell of Arviat poses with the Christmas trees that he fetched last week at the tree line. (Photo courtesy of Nooks Lindell/Facebook)
And just last week Nooks Lindell of Arviat travelled 200 kilometres by snowmobile to the tree line to cut and load Christmas trees to take back home. But he didn’t bring an axe, he said on social media, so he ended up having to shoot them down.
This year, two of the 52 trees ordered by the Arctic Co-operatives Ltd. for Nunavut ended up in Hall Beach: these turned out to be a special order for two of the store’s southern employees.
Most of the live trees that end up in Nunavut originate in Quebec, which exports more than 1 million trees a year.
That’s a long journey across Canada and then to the North, but as long as the trees stay cold, they make the trip in good shape, said Marc Molet-King from Shelmardine Nursery in Winnipeg, which provided the ACL’s 52 trees.
For the order, the nursery chose six-to-seven-foot balsams.
Molet-King described these as “a nice, very green-coloured trees.”
“As long as they stay cold, they should be OK,” he said of those now in Nunavut. “But once you bring them inside and expose them to warm and dry interior house air, they will dry out.”
But that’s not a problem: Molet-King has a prescription for a mix to keep the Christmas trees fresh: one litre of lukewarm water, a 1/4 of cup of white sugar and three to four crushed aspirins, to be repeated as necessary.
“It duplicates the juices that the roots would send up,” he said.
Beyond keeping the tree nice, the water helps prevent fires because the trees don’t dry out as quickly, he said.
Each live tree is different and some are thirstier than others.
“They will drink more than you expect them to. Check it every day. If it dries out, it won’t take up more water without a fresh cut to the bottom,” he said.
You can also water them with soda pop because this helps make the water more acidic, he said: some people swear by drinks like Sprite or ginger ale.
When I lived north, tried to order alive Xmas tree via the Northern for many years dating back to the mid 80’s.
Often the order was placed in Sept. Visitor’s were amazed with the trees over the years. One particular year my tree got lost enroute, but the store manager went out his way and managed to replace the tree and it arrived on Christmas Eve. Our trees brought much joy to our household and others. After Christmas we would stick it in a snow bank for all to see. On a special occasion during the summer we would have a Weiner roast using the tree.
Some of the fondess memories of Christmas in the north.
Leave the trees in the ground!
These are an agricultural crop. They are grown specifically to be Christmas trees, so you’re not hurting the forest at all by buying one. If you don’t want one (and I don’t either), don’t buy it.
They smell beautiful, they help people think of home, and they’re about as ‘live’ as a char on a boulder. ?
As “Agricultural” says these are specifically grown for Christmas and there are other fields full of these, maturing for upcoming Christmases. The tree can be used for projects (make a baseball bat? LOL) afterwards or fuel for the fire/wood stove at the cabin or in your house if you are lucky enough to have one. Some places now sell these “live” in a pot so that you can plant them in the Spring. T.Bert Rose has had an evergreen growing outside is house in Iqaluit for a few years so if you bundle them up over the winter and look after them there’s a chance you could start your own little forest.
A shot tree and a cut tree is a dying tree.
Sure they bring pleasure but they are dying day by day.
I bought a real tree 3 years ago, it was my first real tree. And my last.
It was so dry, i pricked my fingers trying to decorate it. Ended up decorating it with gloves.
Pine needles kept falling off, and watering the tree didnt make it soft.
And it’s a fire hazard!