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How to Start a Christmas Tree Farm for Profit

The spirit of the season can start right on your Christmas tree farm. Here’s what you need to know about starting and maintaining the business.

Every year, people across the nation purchase Christmas trees for their holiday celebrations, and while artificial trees are popular these days, there is always a demand for real trees that provide the scent, ambiance and one-of-a-kind appearance that artificial trees just can’t equal. While large-scale Christmas tree farms satisfy some of this demand, perhaps your farm has the potential to fill a local demand.

Let’s say that you have a few acres—even slightly rocky and uneven ones that aren’t ideal for keeping livestock or growing crops, such as corn or potatoes. Why not embrace the nature of the field and use it to grow Christmas trees?

Before you dig in, though, the obvious question is this: Can Christmas-tree farming be a profitable endeavor for a small-scale hobby farm with little space to spare? Let’s explore what’s involved and find out.

Be Aware: It Takes Time

Christmas trees—unlike most crops—take much longer than a single season to reach maturity. “Christmas trees can take eight to 10 years from planting until harvest,” says Tom Harbinson, facilities & hospitality manager of the Jones Family Farms and Winery in Shelton, Conn. “That is a long-term commitment to the crop that a farmer should be aware of going into it.”

Historically, farmers often chose imperfect fields for growing Christmas trees, but if you want to give your trees the best start in life, choose a field with well-drained soil. Christmas trees won’t grow well in wet conditions. And though it’s easy to think that the trees will simply grow themselves without any maintenance, that isn’t the case.

“It is a crop that does still need care, such as pruning and shaping—making sure a single leader points upward to eventually hold a star or angel for a family’s tradition—as well as being aware of diseases that can attack and diminish a tree,” Harbinson says. Each tree must be sheared every summer once they have reached 3 years of age and roughly 5 feet in height to ensure that the branches grow thickly and form a beautiful Christmas tree shape.

It can also be tricky to establish the trees during the early years of their life, when they are vulnerable and require careful watering and weeding care. “There can be challenges in the early seedling stages regarding irrigation of the crop, particularly with drought that many areas of the country are facing,” Harbinson says.

There’s a very small window of time when the harvest of Christmas trees can be profitable, and farmers should keep this in mind. “Nobody is buying Christmas trees in July, so beware that although the activity of caring for the crop can be year-round, the harvest is obviously a seasonal one and return of revenue for your input creates craters and valleys over a span of time,” Harbinson says.

Choose the Right Evergreens

Obviously, not every tree will work as a Christmas tree. There’s a reason why broad-leafed deciduous trees aren’t used for Christmas celebrations: They drop their leaves in the fall and dry out quickly when cut. Even a tree cut on Christmas Eve might be shriveled and brown by Christmas morning.

As a result, the needle-leaved coniferous trees—which hold their beautiful appearance for much longer after being cut—are the ideal choice for Christmas trees, though some members of this family are more popular than others. Fir trees are among the most desirable species to use as Christmas trees, with Douglas fir being particularly ideal for beginners to grow. Spruce trees, such as blue spruce and white spruce, are also common. For a completely different look, pines such as Scotch pine or white pine can be grown, although you might find that there isn’t as much demand for these less traditional types of Christmas trees.

Turn a Profit

Continues at link: https://www.hobbyfarms.com/start-a-christmas-tree-farm/