Holiday rush: live eco-friendly spruces bought up in Nur-Sultan

No harm to nature! Residents of the Kazakh capital will now be able to install a fresh and environmentally friendly New Year tree in their homes for the holiday season. The agriculturists of Nur-Sultan put up the spruce trees they have grown for sale. The thing is, after the holiday, the tree can be returned and planted again. The city residents liked the idea. According to the forester, this way the forests will be protected from cutting down green spaces.

“A lot of spruce trees are now being cut down! The good thing about our idea is that it will keep them alive. Also, it's a lot healthier than spruce trees in pots. This is because the smell of pine needles has a very beneficial effect on the human body. We launched a sales system this year. It’s not about the profits, not at all. The main thing for us is to preserve these green spaces. This year’s sales are going well. We got 100 trees, 70 of them have already been sold,” said Meiram Kurmanov, a forestry specialist.

Moreover, residents don’t have to buy an eco-friendly New Year tree, they can rent it instead. Local agronomists will teach them how to take care of the tree.

“This spruce is called ‘Siberian’. As you know, fir is grown in our nursery. As soon as they rise, which is in September or October, they are dug up and planted in pots. The trees go into hibernation from late September to early October. During this time, we plant them in pots and put them up for sale. Trees grow from one to two meters high. If people rent one meter of a tree, the price ranges from 18,000 to 25,000 tenge (US$42 to US$58), and the price to bu a two-meter beauty will be from 25,000 to 50,000 tenge (US$58 to US$116),” said Kurmanov.

New Year trees should not be kept in a warm place, because live trees die in this way. Therefore, experts advise buying such pots only for those people who live in private homes.

 Translation and editing by Assem Zhanmukhanova