HYDERABAD: The Germans while they composed this beautiful carol many years ago, had no inkling whatsoever of the 21st century denizens. For little would they have thought then, that people today would literally put into practice the concept of unchanging leaves; replacing the natural, season specific Christmas tree with a more contemporary companion; one that’s plastic, robust, easy-to-maintain and above all, an unchanging piece of year-round artificial decoration. “Plastic trees being more convenient, have gained top popularity despite costing more than the traditional, natural trees”, rued Praveen Sathyarthi of Gromor Food Nursery near Kompally here. A natural tree costs anything between Rs 50-6000 for a 1ft-15ft height tree, while the synthetic ones start at 300 and go beyond 7,000 for similar heights. But customers are ready to give the price a miss, as long as the product is not a bother. “The araucaria tree species is sold in Hyderabad, since its more suited to the tropical climates of the place. But even then proper maintenance is required to ensure a longer life for the tree”, explained Pankaj Chauhary, a horticulturist and landscape designer. He added that since the terrain of Hyderabad is rocky, natural araucaia tree grown outdoors would wither quickly upon hitting sub-soil rocks. “We have seen many trees get damaged upon reaching a height of 12-15 ft since their roots hit rocks below. Its difficult for them to remain functional beyond that height”, he added. And with even large plastic trees fitting snugly into pots, size does not matter in this tug of war.But problems notwithstanding, not all’s lost for the crusaders of natural Xmas trees. “We do sell close to 150-200 trees in the month of December alone. Most clients are corporates, who want to set it up in their office. Some even gift it to their employees. Since araucaria is a semi-shaded plant, the small ones can be placed indoors in a pot”, said T Suman, owner of Sri Sai Ram Nursery, for whom Christmas ensures a better sale than the other months. “The volume of sales has definitely reduced compared to five years ago, but there is a niche clientele who continue to place pre- season orders for trees that are 12-14 ft tall, though most prefer to buy the small varieties.” Madhavi Rao of Green Planet Nursery couldn’t agree more. “This year, the surprise clientele for us were children. They coerced their parents into buying the natural plant, due to which we have already sold off more than 500 trees of height 1-1.5 ft, costing Rs 50-75, this month alone. Also a 6 ft tree costing Rs 6000 has been sold. I’m expecting similar sales for the remaining month as well.” She felt that maintenance of these trees was not a problem, and most times it was just a need for change in people’s mindset that would do the trick. “Half a mug of water per day is all that is required to ensure proper growth and care. All the caution about extra maintenance is just hype.” She has approached numerous stores in the city to sell the natural plants, but so far all sales have been happening through her nursery itself, as stores express reluctance fearing damage to the plant. Currently most nurseries in the city either grow the trees in tissue culture labs of their own, or import it from Pune, Bangalore and Sikkim. With just ten days left for Christmas, nurseries across the city are hoping people return to Xmas trees that change with season, only to bloom by December.
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