SOMETHING THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW! LITTLE TREE, BIG PROBLEM! Dear Editor, My Christmas Tree, as all my friends and family will agree, has always been my most favorite part of my holiday tradition. Its beautiful elegance, glittering with treasured keepsakes from years past has always been my focal point for peaceful contemplation and I truly miss it this year. So this is my Christmas tree story. I’ve picked out my perfect REAL tree for my Little corner of the house. Just the right size, and truly a nice shape. I encircle the tree with my boxes of newly bought lights, I decorate it with my cherished ornaments. I curl a soft blanket around it , as my cats like to nap underneath it; and I gaze at them doing so. And finally I top it with My Angel with the word around it BELIEVE. I’ve placed a few presents under it, to tantalize and tease. And then I expect to spend my days focussing on other things Christmas. Then, after days pass; I notice it. The look of soot under my tree on my hardwood floor and on my velvety blanket. And my tissue filled gift bags are flecked with black spots. Still confused; I inspect the tree. There from top to bottom, traveling with fervor up and down the trunk are thousands of Cinara Aphids. Little Black Bugs resembling a Tick, having six legs who’s one noticeable characteristic is that they multiply profusely. Thousands and thousands. So we have to get this tree out of the house, and because it”s mostly glass ornaments we have to stick our hands on the bug infested branches to remove them. But we don’t want to start pulling off the new lights as we will be flicking off more bugs onto us and the floor. So we are going to drop the tree on a tarp and carry it out, but first one of us has to stick our head under the tree to loosen the base from the newly bought stand which is swimming with aphids. So we drop it onto a tarp and carry it outside and call the Nursery Owners to pick it up as we are worried that these bugs might infest our trees outside; still not knowing what we are dealing with yet. The Nursery Owner removed our tree, but left our new Christmas lights in a tangled heap outside our house. He showed no concern about how this affected our family. He assumed no responsibility for our Stained carpets and hardwood from the dye these bugs excrete, or for our ornaments that are covered with sticky honey dew and bugs, or the glass ones with the bugs inside them, or the hours spent vacuuming up the bugs that were moving away from the tree around our house. The adult aphids lived in containment for two days and their young for another two days, just before Christmas. SO BUYER BEWARE! THE OWNERS OF THE NURSERY ASSUME NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR PRODUCTS AND CAN’T GUARANTEE THIS WON’T HAPPEN TO ANY ONE ELSE.
Diane Morrison