by Thomas Ogren
email: tloallergyfree@earthlink.net
Thomas Leo Ogren is the author of Allergy-Free Gardening. His most recent book, Safe Sex in the Garden, was published March 2003, by Ten Speed Press. Two of his previous books, both novels, were published by New Readers Press, and are used nationwide in adult literacy programs.
Tom does consulting work for the USDA, the American Lung Association, for Allegra.com, and recently for county asthma coalitions. He is considered to be the leading authority on pollen-producing male cultivars, and on their opposites: pollen-free female plants. He is currently working on a book about lawns, for AOL Time Warner Books.
Tom and his wife, Yvonne, have four children. They live in San Luis Obispo, California.
|
|
 I had an interesting experience with a Christmas tree recently and wanted to share it with everyone. This year my son, Josh, who is 20, has been having hayfever-like symptoms ever since the day we brought the Christmas tree into the house.
My wife, who has asthma and numerous allergies, has never been bothered in particular from Christmas trees, and she is the one who always wants (and buys) a huge tree every year. This year it was a Douglas Fir, a very large, full, beautiful tree.
After a few days of seeing how the new tree was getting to Josh, I had an idea. I took a clean glass microscope slide, stuck it inside the branches of the tree and shook the branch just above it. Afterwards the slide still looked pretty clean, almost as though there was nothing on it at all from the tree.
But, when I looked at it under the microscope, wow! There was a huge amount of material on it. I found (in order of frequency): tiny pieces of dried sap (lots of these since it was a sheared tree), microscopic bits of mold, mold spores, pollen grains from pines, pollen grains from Fir, Juniper, and Cedar, a few dead microscopic insects, and a small number of what I believe were spores of rust.
My guess as to what was kicking off Josh's allergies, are the tiny pieces of dried fir sap. These were microscopic and extremely abundant, and no doubt plenty of them got into the air around the tree. Because they are so resinous, these minute allergens probably also present an odor challenge as well.
Since an artificial Christmas tree is NOT an option in our house, I’m already thinking of next Christmas. My plan for next year is this: before I bring the tree inside the house I will hose it down long and hard with a garden hose that has a jet nozzle on the end. Once I've sprayed it down hard, I'll spray the entire tree with a good dose of Wiltpruff, a water-soluble waxy substance. This is something I sometimes use to lock in pollen on male shrubs or small trees. The Wiltpruff ought to lock in most of these tiny particulates, and hopefully will result in an allergy-free Christmas tree. Or at least, one much less allergenic. More on this next Christmas.
|
