Why Is My Christmas Tree Not Drinking Water?

If your Christmas tree isn’t taking in water, there could be a simple explanation for why this is. In this article, tree decorating aficionado Melissa Strauss helps troubleshoot why your tree might not be as thirsty as it should be.

Written by Melissa Strauss Horticulture review by Lorin Nielsen Last updated: January 13, 2025 | 5 min read

A hand delicately pours crystal-clear water from a transparent plastic bottle into a blue-green stand of a Christmas tree. The water replenishes the base, sustaining a beautifully adorned organic Christmas tree.

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Christmas trees are not complicated, and their care is pretty simple if you think of them like a cut flower rather than a tree in the woods. Occasionally, though, you may run into the issue of a Christmas tree not drinking water. In this event, it is important to do some troubleshooting if you want to stop your tree from drying out.

If it won’t take in water, it will unlikely last very long. And let’s face it, Christmas trees can be pricey and time-consuming. You want them to last through the holidays! That means keeping it hydrated. A dry, brown Christmas tree drops messy needles all over your floor.

If the Christmas tree is set up in a proper-sized stand with the right amount of water but doesn’t seem to be drinking, there are ways to encourage it to hydrate. Let’s discuss what to do when your Christmas tree isn’t drinking water.

The Short Answer

There are a few possible reasons why your Christmas tree is not drinking water. Initially, it could be an issue with sap deposits. It may need a fresh cut. Certain additives in the water can also inhibit uptake.

3 Reasons Why Your Christmas Tree Is Not Drinking Water

A person's hand firmly grips a measuring tape, carefully extending it around the sturdy tree trunk. The tape's markings display inches, providing a precise measurement. This measurement helps determine the tree's water needs, ensuring its healthy growth and sustainability. — Calculate expected water consumption per day by measuring the trunk’s diameter.

Before understanding why your Christmas tree is not drinking water, we must understand how much water it should be absorbing. If it isn’t very large and the stand has a large reservoir, it could drink less water than you expected.

The best way to determine how much to water a Christmas tree in a 24-hour period is to measure the trunk’s diameter. For every inch in diameter, your tree will need one quart of water per day. That means that a Christmas tree with a trunk that is four inches in diameter will need about a gallon of water daily.

It is especially important to give your Christmas tree water on the day you bring it home. Just as with cut flowers, if a Christmas tree does not drink water for 24 hours, it will decline rapidly.

There are a few reasons why a Christmas tree might not be drinking water. Once you identify the cause, fix the problem to keep your tree in good shape.

Fresh Cut

A freshly cut Christmas tree rests on the ground, its vibrant green branches contrasting with the lush grass underneath. In the blurred background, majestic, towering Christmas trees set a scenic backdrop, ready for the holiday season. — Freshly cutting a tree trunk improves water absorption and longevity.

When you buy from the lot or other retailer, a good vendor gives the trunk a fresh cut before they send you home. If you consider how cut flowers work, this makes perfect sense. A fresh cut removes the trunk portion that has dried over and will no longer absorb water.

Depending on how long it takes to get it home and into your stand filled with water, you should make another fresh cut. If the Christmas tree is out of water and allowed to dry for about four hours, it needs a fresh cut. Don’t skip this step because it’s arduous getting it in and out of the stand.

That said, if you are here because it is already in the stand and/or decorated, things are a bit more complicated. Getting a fresh cut on a decorated tree is at least a two-person job, but it is the most effective way to solve the problem. I wish I could tell you there is some great trick to doing this, but if there is, I haven’t figured it out yet.

Hot Water

A freshly cut Christmas tree reveals its lower trunk immersed in a green water basin. Surrounding the tree, the cement ground displays a scattering of dry, brown Christmas tree needles. — Hot water for the first tree watering helps dissolve or loosen sap and encourages water uptake.

If a Christmas tree does not drink water on the first day, the most likely culprit is a build-up of sap. When the tree trunk is cut, the tree sends sap there to seal the cut. When a limb is cut in the wild, it seals it over to prevent disease.

Trees have not yet evolved to know how to thrive as cut Christmas trees. We have to help them along. What should you do? Try watering your Christmas tree with hot water.

Take this step when you first put the Christmas tree up, whether or not it has a drinking problem. When I say give it hot water, I mean boiling hot water. It may sound like you’re about to kill it. Don’t worry: there is a science to this method, and it’s pretty sound.

We talked about the trunk sending sap to heal up the fresh cut that has been made. Hot water for the first watering softens up and dissolves the sap that may have formed on the cut. This clears the way for the tree to start drinking.

This should only be done the first time you water. Watering consistently with hot water is not good for the tree. Just once might be the answer to avoiding that awkward and difficult cutting situation. Give your Christmas tree plenty of water for 24 hours before you worry about making a new cut. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Additives

A hand holding a white spray bottle delicately moistens a beautifully decorated Christmas tree. The Christmas tree is adorned with charming decorative slices of lemons, adding a unique, zesty twist to the traditional holiday decor. — Christmas tree water additives are generally unnecessary and potentially harmful.

There are many tips out there regarding what you can add to your Christmas tree water to make it last longer. I’m sure they are all well-intentioned, but for the most part, they are unnecessary. Some of them will not only inhibit water uptake but actually cause dehydration.

You may have heard that bleach will help disinfect your Christmas tree, dissolve that sap cover, or otherwise benefit it. The reality is that bleach will kill plant tissue and shorten the life of your tree. Other sources say to give it a stiff drink, but alcohol is dehydrating, so I can’t recommend that either.

Aspirin and lemon juice are unlikely to cause any damage and could possibly acidify the water, which evergreens generally appreciate. However, just because a plant likes acidic soil doesn’t mean it likes an acidic environment once cut. Acidity in soil helps break down the nutrients already in the soil. Without the soil, it isn’t necessarily helpful.

A little bit of flower food might be helpful to provide some nutrients, but that isn’t needed either. When it comes down to it, plain tap water is truly all your Christmas tree needs. If the trunk is taking in plain water, well, it is best to just stick to the basics.

How to Water a Christmas Tree

Red Christmas tree bauble with water droplets after spraying. — Spraying the tree can also help keep the needles moist.

Watering a Christmas tree isn’t complicated. After calculating how much water it needs using the method above, simply add the right amount of water to the container the trunk is standing in. Check the container daily and top up as needed (you may want to keep a watering can nearby as a reminder).

You don’t need to any anything to the water to keep a Christmas tree healthy. As long as the container has water in it consistently, the trunk shouldn’t dry out.

There are other practices that stop your Christmas tree from drying out, extending its lifespan:

Keep the tree out of direct sunlight.
Water the Christmas tree as soon as you bring it home to limit exposure to the air.
Move the Christmas tree away from fireplaces and radiators.
Avoid damage to the base of the tree when you’re positioning it. If your stand is too small, get a bigger size rather than squeezing it in.

Final Thoughts

Keeping your Christmas tree green and healthy through the holidays is always our main objective, so when the Christmas tree isn’t drinking water, troubleshooting is a good idea. As with most things plant-related, it is best to keep things simple. Always give the trunk a fresh cut before putting it in the stand, and give it plenty of plain tap water to drink.