Short answer...yes :-) And a darn good way to recycle the tree after the holidays are over.

A regular un-flocked tree? You bet! I don't even mind bits of tinsel here and there. Plus a small branch, cut from the tree and dried ... discourages critters from digging around newly planted seedbeds or seedlings. Just drape a few of those prickly branches across the area to be protected and even raccoons don't go digging.

Supposedly they make good mulch/compost when chipped.

http://tomclothier.hort.net/page24.html

thats cool!

Absolutely - our city council collects ours and shreds them for compost. In the past I have cut off all the branches for mulch and used the trunk with stubs of branches as a bean climbing frame.

After christmas, I set our tree in the back yard and hang a couple suet cakes on it... the birds like the cover that the branches provide.

IN the spring, after it warms up a bit, I run the tree through the chipper and put it in the compost.... smells so good...

Absolutely. Some people have been recycling their christmas trees this way for a as long as I can remember and there are always articles in your local paper and on TV that tells about recycling these things. Many places today ban putting things like christmas trees in landfills.