This easy-to-build system is disguised as a wrapped present under the Christmas tree. It allows easy refilling and can water your tree for several days if you are away from home.
There are many benefits to decorating with live Christmas trees, but the daily watering can become a bit of a hassle, especially if your tree stand is difficult to reach. It's also impossible to travel for any extended period of time without getting someone else to water your tree while you are gone. This system will eliminate both those problems.
There are many benefits to decorating with live Christmas trees, but the daily watering can become a bit of a hassle, especially if your tree stand is difficult to reach. It's also impossible to travel for any extended period of time without getting someone else to water your tree while you are gone. This system will eliminate both those problems.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1: Materials
You will need:
- One live Christmas tree.
- One live Christmas tree stand. Although you can't see it in the pictures because of the tree skirt, I used a tree stand with a 1-gallon reservoir, 360-degree x 10-degree tilt with a foot locking mechanism. Any tree stand should work though.
- A bucket that's about as tall as the top of your tree stand. Any plastic container that holds more water than your tree stand should work though.
- A box with a lid. The box should be big enough that your bucket can fit inside it.
- Wrapping paper and bow for decorating the box.
- Approximately 4-feet of 3/8" plastic tubing. Other dimensions may work and you can go longer or shorter if you need, but 4-feet met my needs well.
- Two 3/8" Compression Couplings x 3/4" MIP Brass Adapters with nylon or plastic bushings for the compression couplings. It's important that the compression end be the same size as the outside diameter of your tubing, but the other end is unimportant. This will be used merely as a weight to keep the end of the tubing in the bottom of the reservoir and bucket.
- One live Christmas tree.
- One live Christmas tree stand. Although you can't see it in the pictures because of the tree skirt, I used a tree stand with a 1-gallon reservoir, 360-degree x 10-degree tilt with a foot locking mechanism. Any tree stand should work though.
- A bucket that's about as tall as the top of your tree stand. Any plastic container that holds more water than your tree stand should work though.
- A box with a lid. The box should be big enough that your bucket can fit inside it.
- Wrapping paper and bow for decorating the box.
- Approximately 4-feet of 3/8" plastic tubing. Other dimensions may work and you can go longer or shorter if you need, but 4-feet met my needs well.
- Two 3/8" Compression Couplings x 3/4" MIP Brass Adapters with nylon or plastic bushings for the compression couplings. It's important that the compression end be the same size as the outside diameter of your tubing, but the other end is unimportant. This will be used merely as a weight to keep the end of the tubing in the bottom of the reservoir and bucket.
Visit Our Store »
Go Pro Today »
Just set this up using one of our Christmas storage bins as the reservoir. Its nice and wide so it holds a lot of water and its red and green. Getting the siphon started is a bit tricky since the water levels are so low and close but once done it works great. I'll be doing this every year from now on!
Instead of putting weights on the ends of the tube, I used some copper wire I had lying around to create "clips" that attach to the edges of the bucket and tree stand respectively. The tubes are held to the edges. My tree watering system has been a resounding success!
Details about my build are here.