Prof Raj Lada
BBC Earth|April 2018

Helen Pilcher quizzes the founder of the Christmas Tree Research Centre to find out his secret formula for avoiding a carpet covered in pine needles…

Prof Raj Lada
Prof Raj Lada

I hate sweeping up Christmas tree needles. Can you help? 

Yes. Needle loss is a big problem. In Atlantic Canada where I work, Christmas trees are a $100m industry. We export three million trees annually, but in the past entire shipments have been lost when the trees lost their needles. It struck me that no one had a clue what was going on. So seven years ago I founded the Christmas Tree Research Centre to find out.

What causes needle loss? 

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