Growing Christmas trees; Rants from a Wholesale Grower -

Most Tree Growers start their trees by buying 2 year old seedlings from a wholesale nursery and them planting them about 8' apart to grow for about 10 years. The first year survival rate varies anywhere from 5% to 90% depending on rainfall. It is usually impractical to water Christmas trees since they are grown so far apart, and once they survive the first year, they usually survive to grow big enough to sell. When the trees reach about 3-4' tall, they have to be sheared every Summer during the hottest part of the year. I always think of this when someone tries to wheedle a tree out of us for a church or something. I usually point out that I don't remember seeing them last summer when it was 96^o out and we were sweating like crazy and they were in their nice air conditioned church or whatever.

All Christmas trees tend to have a nicer greener color that tends to fade and yellow as the late fall or early winter progresses, especially when the weather gets extremely cold. It is usually the sunny (Southwest) side that discolors first. In the spring the new growth will grow out just as well on this side. If you visit a tree farm in the fall, you will see dead needles just below the layer of newer greener needles. This does not mean anything is wrong with the trees. These are just old needles dropping off, just like deciduous trees lose their leaves in the fall. Conifers usually drop old needles later in the season then Deciduous trees drop leaves. 

Dug vs. Cut- A Christmas Tree can often be cut in seconds (all right, a big tree can be a challenge to cut down by hand if it has a big trunk sometimes), but the grower can whack off the tree in a few seconds if he already has the running chainsaw in his hand. But digging a tree properly can be quite a job. The idea is to get and maintain a solid ball of soil around the roots big enough to hold moisture and support the tree after it is planted out. If you are considering digging you own tree for the first time, be warned that there is an art to digging a good root ball and getting a tree to survive. Allow me to indulge myself with what a customer digging their own tree means to the tree grower. I would much rather sell a cut tree as it is usually much less trouble for me to cut it than for you to dig it yourself because this is the usual sequence of events:

1) Customer prices already dug tree

2) Customer decides to save money. At this point, the simple conclusion seems to be that

A) Customer can save money.

B) It'll only take a few minutes to dig

C) The tree WILL survive a first time digger's root ball

D) The grower will happily sell me this tree for the same price as a cut tree since I am doing all the work and there is no additional trouble to him. I am actually saving him work!

3) Customer picks out a tree, and realizes they have no tools, no burlap to tie up root ball, and no twine

4) Customer asks to borrow some tools (Tree grower's note- all shovels are not the same. A professional who digs trees by hand will usually have their own favorite shovel. I always prefer a heavy shovel. I mean a VERY HEAVY shovel that will punch through roots and rocks, and feels just right. One that has been broken in (they get polished after you dig a few hundred trees, and are actually easier to use then). I paid $80 for my favorite Ames armored nursery spade, and proceed to reinforce it with about 15# of steel, and will not lend it out for less than a $600 deposit. I will probably use this spade for HUNDREDS OF HOURS, and will likely dig $50,000 - $100,000 of nursery stock with it before it wears out. I am not keen on lending my favorite tool out. Hence the customer will end up borrowing my least favorite and cheapest shovel.

5) Customer starts to dig the tree and realizes he needs some advice, and again consults the tree grower, who takes time to explain how to dig a tree.

6) Customer goes back to tree with renewed vigor, and totally disregarding the grower's instructions, proceeds to "loosen up the tree from the ground". The customer is also loosening up all the soil that was ever in contact with the roots.

7) The tree comes out of the ground! Another trip to buy a burlap from the grower, who has to stop selling trees or whatever else they are trying to do to get the burlap for the customer.

8) The tree gets drug to the burlap, as 50% of the remaining soil gets shaken off the place where the root ball was supposed to be. Customer realizes that the tree is very heavy, so needs some help loading the tree on their truck.

9) Tree grower is sorry for the customer, so he either:

A) Stops to get the loader and helps load the tree for the customer, or
B) Tells the customer he is too busy.

10) If  "B", then the customer heaves the tree onto the truck, slamming it down on the truck bed, further reducing the integrity of the root ball. Very little soil in contact with the roots means the roots will dry out and die very easily.

11) The grower now has to fill in the hole where the tree came from, having spent much more time that if he only had to cut the tree for the customer