Growing Christmas Trees: Select the Right Species, Raise the Best Trees, Market for the Holidays. A Storey BASICS® Title

by Patrick White, Lewis Hill

Overview

Growing beautiful Christmas trees is a great way to generate off-season farm income and make better use of your land. From selecting a site and planting the right species to marketing and selling trees, this Storey BASICS® guide shows you how to build and maintain your own small tree nursery. Including handy tips for making handcrafted kissing balls and holiday wreaths, Growing Christmas Trees covers everything you need to know to successfully cultivate stunning evergreens that will provide income and bring holiday cheer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612123660
Publisher:	Storey Publishing, LLC
Publication date:	02/27/2015
Series:	Storey Basics
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	20 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Patrick White operates Meadow Ridge Tree Farm (www.meadowridgetree farm.com), a Christmas tree farm in Middlesex, Vermont, with about 8,000 trees in the ground. He is on the board of directors of the New Hampshire-Vermont Christmas Tree Association and editor of the group's newsletter. He also runs Meadow Ridge Media (www.meadowridgemedia.com), providing freelance writing and editing services to trade magazines in the agriculture, landscaping, and golf industries.

The late Lewis Hill, a beloved and best-selling Storey author, grew more than 20,000 trees on his farm in Greensboro, Vermont. He was also a member of the National Christmas Tree Association and the New Hampshire-Vermont Christmas Tree Association.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Getting Started

On paper, growing Christmas trees seems to be the rare agricultural endeavor that is easy and profitable. How can one go wrong with a crop of 1,200 trees on one acre? You might buy seedlings for a little more than $1 each and sell mature trees in just 6 to 10 years for $20 or $40 or more apiece. That is not a bad profit margin for a spare-time activity!

Financials

The bottom line is that, like any business, Christmas tree farming comes with its share of market uncertainties. No one can be sure what the situation will be 10 years from now when this year's seedlings are ready for harvesting. When you weigh the pros and cons of growing any agricultural crop, you always find it a gamble. Working with the many whims of nature is risky and the whims of the buying public can be equally unpredictable. This is not to say that Christmas tree farming isn't rewarding, or that it can't be financially profitable, just that it's not as simple an endeavor as it might seem to those outside the industry.

Small Investment Required

It takes a surprisingly minor initial cash outlay to start a small- to medium-sized Christmas tree project in comparison with the money required for many other agricultural enterprises. The planting stock is relatively inexpensive and only a few essential tools are needed to manage a small plantation. Many of the expenses can be spread over time, as the trees grow. Keep in mind, though, that the first income will also be years in the future.

The wait for the first profits is not much longer, however, than it would be for the first big harvest of apples, walnuts, blueberries, or other similar crops. It is far shorter than waiting for a planting of trees for firewood, timber, or maple syrup to mature.

Annual Harvests vs. a One-Time Bonanza

One common mistake among beginners in the tree business is to plant all their available acreage at once. There are important logistical and financial reasons to stagger your planting. Trees planted at one time will all need the same amount of shearing and other care at the same time each year, eventually creating a huge bubble of work.

More important, though, is the challenge that a single crop of uniform age creates when it comes time to sell. It can be difficult to find a market for a large number of trees all at once, especially without previous sales experience in the business. Also, your one and only crop could be ready to harvest during a period when there is a surplus of trees that would make it difficult to sell them at any price. Even if they can all be sold at a good price, you will face a huge harvesting job that must be completed within a few short weeks, and you will have to pay big income taxes that year. Then you will be left with no more trees to sell until the next crop matures, perhaps 10 years later.

Planting a portion of your acreage each year provides a steadier annual income and more evenly distributes the work of planting, cutting, shearing, harvesting, and marketing. Staggered planting puts you in a better position to develop relationships with wholesale buyers who want to be certain of a source of trees they can depend on year after year, or meet the desires of choose-and-cut customers who value the tradition of returning to the same farm year after year.

Market Realities

Many new growers look only at the profit potential in Christmas trees: the $1 seedling miraculously turning into the $40 tree. It is possible for things to work out in such a rosy fashion. You must not make any mistakes along the way, however, and the weather, markets, and prices must all be favorable. No diseases or insects can wipe out your investment before sales time. And once you start selling your healthy natural product, you'll discover that artificial trees cut deeply into the market for real trees.

Artificial Trees

The first plastic trees looked phony. New models have become very realistic. Most are manufactured in China, and the number being imported into the United States is rising dramatically. While real Christmas trees still outsell artificial versions on a year-to-year basis, the longer lifespan of artificial trees — different sources estimate the average artificial tree is kept for six years — means that, overall, they are found in most of the homes that display Christmas trees.

At the same time, a growing number of ordinances have popped up around the country forbidding natural trees in some buildings because of fears they represent a fire hazard. Also, a new generation of potential customers has arrived with no tradition of enjoying real trees and little concern for whether a tree is fake or real — or whether they have Christmas trees in their homes at all.

Natural Trees: The Sustainable Choice

Christmas tree industry groups have worked regionally and nationally to promote farm-grown Christmas trees as the clear ecological choice over plastic trees manufactured overseas using petroleum products and other chemicals. There have also been many fact-based demonstrations to counter tree bans brought about by fears over fires, as well as efforts to emphasize the importance of Christmas traditions such as real Christmas trees.

In 2014, at the industry's urging, Congress passed and the president signed legislation creating the Christmas Tree Promotion Board, a national marketing collective meant to duplicate the success of agricultural marketing groups such as the National Dairy Council (famous for the "Got Milk?" campaign). Growers who sell more than 500 trees per year will be required to pay 15 cents per tree to help fund a national marketing effort to promote real, farm-grown Christmas trees.

Your Investment of Time and Money

"They just grow, don't they?" Christmas tree growers often hear this question from friends, neighbors, customers, and others who think that this line of "work" is just a matter of planting some seedlings and waiting for them to grow. This misconception leads people to picture Christmas tree farming as a low-investment, high-return proposition: Just buy a small seedling, stick it in the ground, and kick back a few years before selling the tree for a 300or 500-percent return on investment.

Even the nurseries that sell Christmas tree seedlings and transplants are often not realistic about how much labor, time, and expense you will have to put forth before you get a stream of income. No matter what the catalogs imply, the cost of buying and planting the small trees will not be your last or, in most cases, even your biggest investment.

Budgeting Tips

Before you order the first tree, it is important to plan carefully an investment budget of both time and money. You will probably find that the time involved is harder to estimate than the money, because your hours will vary depending on your site, how much work can be done mechanically, the tree species you're growing, the amount of labor you hire, disease and pest outbreaks, and other factors.

Don't overlook office expenses as you make out your budget. Advertising, insurance, taxes, postage, telephone, stationery, bank fees, and association dues may seem minor, but can add up to a large figure over a period of years. There may also be legal expenses incurred to start up your business, apply for zoning variances and permits, and so on.

Size of Operation

The degree of investment required will depend on the size of the Christmas tree farm you are establishing. It is difficult to define precisely what qualifies as a small, medium, or large operation, but there are some general criteria.

A small planting is one you can manage with the tools and equipment that a gardener or small farmer would ordinarily have on hand. A small operation might be up to several acres in size, harvesting a few hundred trees per year. An operation of this size can be strictly a spare-time occupation, but you must devote a fair number of evenings and weekends throughout the year to planting, as well as to controlling weeds, insects, and disease, and a few weeks each summer for shearing.

A medium-sized operation, perhaps 10 to 50 acres, will probably require extra labor as well as more power equipment. On this size tree farm you will probably need a tree planter, mower, fertilizer spreader, sprayer, tractor, and tree-harvesting equipment. There will also be the annual expenses of fuel, storage of equipment and supplies, fertilizer, machinery upkeep, pesticides, and labor — all of which can add up to a sizable amount before the first tree is sold.

A large planting will occupy hundreds of acres, involving a great deal of equipment, labor, and investment that is beyond the scope of what is covered in this book.

Managing Costs

Before you buy new equipment, look online and in newspapers and trade magazines for classified ads offering used equipment, and check out auctions of growers who are discontinuing operations. Christmas tree associations often have "buy, sell, or trade" classified ads in their newsletters and/or websites.

As in most farm operations, careful attention to production and harvesting costs, even the seemingly insignificant financial ones, can make the difference between success and failure.

Selecting the Best Site

If you are planning to buy land specifically to grow Christmas trees, you have the advantage of searching for the perfect location. Look for land that is accessible by a good road, with fertile soil suited for the species of trees you want to grow, in an area blessed with an ideal climate.

You may also be able to find property near the market you want to supply. In locations far from population centers, the price per tree may be only one-half to one-third of what it might be near affluent suburbs, where there are fewer trees growing locally and the cost of living is generally higher.

Drainage

Perhaps the most important consideration, though, is to find a well-drained site. Nurseries tout some species and varieties as "tolerating" wetter conditions, but the reality is that every tree does best on well-drained soils. If the soil remains wet for extended periods, the trees planted there are likely to fare poorly or, more likely, to die as their roots "drown" without access to oxygen. Tree-killing root rot diseases, such as phytophthora (water molds), also can spread in wet soils. If you have ground that is wet for long stretches of the year, consider the cost of installing drainage before planting, or else look for other land.

Out in the fields, adequate drainage is essential for reasons beyond tree growth. Good summer roads may turn to something like quicksand when they become muddy or snowy in early winter. The harvest season is so short that any transportation problems will be costly in time and money. For larger operations, where at least some trees will be sold wholesale, access to a roadside is important for trucking purposes.

Terrain

The lay of the land and steepness of a slope are also important considerations when you're looking for a plantation site. Most Christmas tree species can be grown successfully on slopes that don't suit other crops. Such locations may limit the use of machinery, however. That means that planting, mowing, fertilizing, and other care must be done by hand.

Late spring frosts can damage the early new growth of trees, so avoid planting in frost pockets, which are common in confined valleys or low areas (depressions) where frigid air can become trapped and settle. In colder climates, northern slopes that warm up slowly in the spring and thus delay early growth are ideal if they are not too steep, as are higher areas as frost is likely to be confined to lower valleys. If you don't have such a location, plant only trees that tend to bud-out later in the spring, after the danger of frost has largely passed (see information on specific tree types in chapter 2).

Different parts of the country have different site considerations. In open areas of the Midwest, for example, choose a site that offers at least some protection from the wind. Constant blowing can deform trees and desiccate the needles. To prevent this you may need to plant a windbreak around the plantation. No matter what region you live in, avoid sites that are prone to flooding or have heavy clay soils.

To create a successful plantation, the selection of a good site must be made in tandem with your choice of suitable tree species. Many species grow well in a wide variety of soils and in different climates, but all do best when conditions are to their liking as far as soil type, moisture levels, climatic conditions, and so on.

Soil: Depth, Fertility, and pH

Many advertisements for seedlings state that Christmas trees are an ideal crop for poor, worn-out soil. This implies that they will thrive where other crops will not. Trees may grow on such sites; however, trees planted in locations lacking humus (partially decayed organic matter) and nutrients usually grow slowly and have poor color. For successful tree planting, look for fertile, deep soil or, lacking that, soil that can easily be improved.

Learn something about the former use of your land. If heavy applications of lime have been made over the years in order to grow clover or alfalfa, the soil may be too alkaline for pines and perhaps even fir species. In heavily grazed pastureland, dig down in several areas to assess the depth of soil and determine whether surface water could collect and drown tree roots during heavy rains or melting snows.

pH

Excessive amounts of sulfur and peat, combined with a lack of calcium, can make the soil overly acidic. Too much calcium, such as lime, can make it excessively alkaline. Either condition can lock up soil nutrients, making them unavailable during the growing season. Fortunately, most Christmas tree species grow well in a wide range of soils, as long as they contain sufficient amounts of humus and nutrients. However, each has a pH preference. Fraser fir likes a low pH, in the 5.0 to 5.5 range; balsam fir does best in soils below 5.5; Colorado spruce, 6 to 7; and most pine species prefer a more acidic soil, from 5 to 6.

Deciphering pH

Soil acidity/alkalinity is measured on a pH scale of 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral. Readings of less than 7 indicate acidic soil; more than 7, alkaline soil. Most soils fall between 4 and 7.

pH scale. Your soil may contain plenty of nutrients, but the roots will take them up only when the soil pH is within the preferred range of the tree species you are growing.

Reading the Land

The plants already growing on your land can be clues to soil acidity. Most promising is when the tree species you want to raise are already thriving naturally. Where clover and goldenrod grow lavishly, the top few inches of soil probably has a pH of 6.5 or higher. Abundant white cedars and "hard" water in nearby wells indicate a high pH at a deeper level. Sorrel, laurel, and wild blueberries tell you that the topsoil is acidic. The presence of oaks, pines, and hemlocks growing naturally mean the subsoil too is acidic.

If you don't feel confident about deciphering the soil acidity by observing the plant life in the area, invest in a soil test kit, or collect soil samples and send them to a specialized testing lab, being sure to follow their instructions. Let the lab know exactly what crop you intend to grow, as it may determine the tests they run and the soil amendments they suggest.

Take a good look at the condition of the soil on the plot of land you will plant. Good soil contains a high amount of humus, which can absorb both moisture and nutrients and release them later as the tree needs them. Humus also serves as a valuable buffer. Soils well supplied with it are more forgiving of chemical excesses and more tolerant of elevated acidity or alkalinity. Soil in good condition needs little or no improvement before planting. It can produce crops of trees with good color and heavy needle density indefinitely, with only an occasional feeding.

Your county agent, forester, or soil conservation official can advise you, usually at no charge. This is a conversation worth having, as an expert can spot conditions that are not readily obvious and may also recommend specific soil tests or leaf and plant analyses.

Climate

If you already own the land where you plan to grow trees, you can't do much about climate. You should, however, be careful to match the seedlings you plant with your local conditions. Most firs and spruces need cool summers and long, cold winters to thrive, so they grow well only in the northern states, southern Canada, and the higher elevations of the Appalachians. The pines grow well over a much larger area and some species thrive in southern and southwestern regions (see chapter 2 for more detail on different species).

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Growing Christmas Trees"
by .
Copyright © 2015 Storey Publishing.
Excerpted by permission of Storey Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Introduction: A Time-Honored Tradition

Chapter One: Getting Started

Chapter Two: Enter the Trees

Chapter Three: Planting and Growing

Chapter Four: Shearing and Pruning

Chapter Five: When Things Go Wrong

Chapter Six: Sales Strategies

Chapter Seven: Time to Harvest

Chapter Eight: Wreaths and Greens

Conclusion

Caring for a Real Christmas Tree
A Christmas Tree Grower's Calendar
Glossary
Index