Geneticists are working to engineer Christmas trees that result in a lot less vacuuming for you at home.
Having a real Christmas tree in your home is a novelty many enjoy. However, it can result in a lot of mess in your home owing to their dropping needles.
A group of geneticists at the NC State Christmas Tree Genetics Program at North Carolina State University are working to solve this problem.
For the past 40 years, they have been trying to develop “elite” Fraser fir trees, which account for 98 percent of all Christmas trees sold in North Carolina, the University reported.
They believe these modified trees could be available as seeds, to be sold to growers between 2026 and 2028.
This research began in the late 1990s when the Christmas Tree Genetics Program tested around 30,000 Fraser fir trees. The team aimed to find the one with the best genetics to ensure its needles do not drop as frequently as others.
Getty/Liudmila Chernetska
Out of these thousands of trees, they found 25 that had the best genetics. These trees would not only look nicer, with a better growth rate, but they also retained their needles for much longer.
By 2018, these trees were planted in a specific orchard at the Upper Mountain Research Station, in the hopes that these trees would produce seeds for more genetically similar trees.
A single cone on these fir trees usually contains around 100 seeds.
“Our trees will make the lives of both growers and consumers easier,” Justin Whitehill, director of the Christmas Tree Genetics Program, said in a press release detailing the project. “Our genetically-improved trees grew an extra 1-2 inches a year. So instead of having to wait 7-8 years for a tree to reach the typical commercial height, growers might only have to wait 6-7 years.”
Each fir tree grows at different speeds, according to the university. But the trees usually need at least 7 to 8 years to grow to a height where they can be sold.
As the research continues, geneticists hope to plant the genetically improved trees at the research station by 2030. This means they could be ready to sell Christmas trees in 2037.
These trees should be exactly the ones consumers want, as they not only shed fewer needles and create less mess but were also selected based on a preferred appearance.
“If a grower can produce a tree like that, it’s great because that’s what customers want. But there is a lot of work that goes into shaping trees,” Whitehill said. “Each of the trees selected for the orchard had a conical shape with dense branches, so we expect their offspring to grow that way as well. If we can grow trees that already look like that and reduce or eliminate the need for manual labor, it’s going to save money for growers. It’s also going to make customers happy.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.