Welcome to the introduction to Preserved Trees. When you're reading this, hopefully, you'll be somewhat familiar with how a living tree works, so that we can dive right into the preserved trees. If not, I'll be also comparing the two later on.
First, we'll look at what preserved means in regards to trees, after that we'll look at what we preserve to get a preserved tree. We'll talk about the benefits with preserved trees, opposite of living trees and we'll finish with a (humble and unbiased) conclusion of preserved trees.
What does preserved mean?
Of course when we talk about preserved trees, we'll have to establish what preserved means.
To explain this we'll start at the preservation process at the plantation where the plants and trees are grown. These plantations exist especially to preserve plants, trees and some flowers as well, to learn more about preserved flowers, please see our other 'Introduction to Preserved Flowers' blog.
Just like normal plants preserved plants are grown and groomed until they are at their most beautiful state. At this point the plants and trees are just living ones.
When the plants and trees are fully grown, they are pruned and are taking inside. Inside a hot room, to be exact. To keep some secrets, we'll not mention the temperature of the room, but it's hot. The plants are placed into half-downspout looking tubes with two liquids. These liquids are glycerine and color-pigment.
After the plants and trees are placed into this tube in this hot room, the water in cells of the plants evaporates. The cells become empty and this sends a signal to the plant, the plant needs water again. But instead of water, which the plant would have gotten from the soil outside, the plant is placed in these two liquids we mentioned. The plant takes in these liquids and they are stored in the empty cells. Now the water is replaced with glycerine and color-pigment, and the plant or tree is preserved.
What parts of the tree are preserved?
When you read the part above and you'll see a preserved tree like below, you'll probably come to the conclusion that this huge seven-meter high Nicoly tree was a fully living tree, grown on a plantation and placed inside a hot room to be preserved.
Even though plants and (smaller) trees are preserved through the process mentioned before, for bigger ones the process is a bit different.
When you look at the picture above, actually only one part of the tree is preserved. Those are the nicoly leaves. To learn more about nicoly leaves especially go to our blog 'Preserved Olive Nicoly Trees' When a plant is to be preserved, this can also be done in parts. The trunk will not be preserved most of the time, but the focus is on the leaves of the plant or tree.
The same goes for the huge nicoly tree above, the leaves are preserved separate from the trunk. After preserving the leaves, they can be placed on any trunk by hand. This is exactly what happened with this project. We used a dried trunk, that is treated against insects and pests, and we're putting every single branch in its place by hand.
Luckily when you have a dried trunk of which the crown is groomed. You'll always be able to see where the branches used to be. So we use nature as our guide when we are building a preserved tree.
The combination of the preserved leaves, a dried trunk and a guide like mother nature makes sure that you will not be able to differentiate a living tree from a preserved tree.
The autonomy of a preserved tree
After all of this, you might ask: 'How does a preserved tree work then?'. It's as follows:
We've covered the preserved leaves and the dried trunk. The next thing I'll address is the last part of a preserved tree, that is the concrete block. This concrete block is made to keep the tree in its place. On the location of installation, the trunk will be placed on top of the concrete block, so that it will be strong and won't fall over. The concrete block is not visible, because there is always either a planter where the trunk of the preserved tree goes into or a hole in ground built for the tree.
Benefits of preserved trees
Now that we've taken a look at how preserved trees come to 'life', we'll look at what why a preserved tree is beneficial for you.
First, it's important to state that preserved trees are only allowed to be placed indoors. Preserved plants, or the leaves, are not able to withstand temperatures below 10 degrees Celcius, or humidity higher than 80 percent.
So when placed indoors, what are the benefits of a preserved tree? We'll look at maintenance. It's a quick look because there isn't much. Preserved trees and plants need maintenance, but it pretty much exists of removing the dust. Preserved trees do not need any sunlight, replacing brown leaves, grooming or cutting. After the tree is placed indoors, you'll just have to enjoy it. The only thing that holds a preserved tree in its place is the concrete block inside a planter, that's not even visible and it will be representative for years to come.
The second benefit we'll look at is maintenance as well, but I would like to mention this specifically. Preserved trees do not need any water. Just think of the costs of water systems and drainage that don't need to be built in anymore. There is no need for tubes for water drainage and there won't be a landscaping company visiting to water and maintain your tree every two weeks or so.
The third benefit is that it can be placed anywhere, as long as its indoors, because of two reasons. First, as I've mentioned before, preserved trees are built by hand. The tree arrives on the location in three parts: the leaves, the trunk and the concrete block. Because of this, even a huge tree, comes in parts. This is easy, and cheaper, for transportation and very easy to get the tree to its indoor location for installation. The second reason why it can be placed anywhere inside is that airflow does not harm preserved trees. So they can be placed in areas where living trees are not able to be placed, because they won't survive. Doors or windows that are constantly opening are not a problem for preserved trees.
And finally, the last benefit is a result of the first two benefits. When you're saving costs on maintenance, you'll be earning back your investment. Depending on the size and amount of trees, you'll be able to earn back your preserved tree in a few years.
Preserved trees vs. artificial and living trees
We could fill another whole article about the comparisons with preserved, artificial and living trees, and we did. Please refer to this article to learn more about this subject: 'Preserved, Living and Artificial Trees'.
Our humble and unbiased conclusion
I think we've covered quite a bit of information. More information can be found when you click on the references in this blog or when you go to the summary of all the blogs we have.
Now with all these points combined, we'll look at our conclusion.
You want a tree indoors. You want 100% natural quality. You want no one to question if your tree is living or not. You don't want to keep spending. You want easy transportation and installation. You want a representative tree for years. You want the positive and healthy effects of greenery.
Then a preserved tree is the best and only option for you!
Thank you for reading and hopefully we'll be able to provide your project with a beautiful lasting preserved tree! Call or e-mail us for a free quotation today.