Christmas Tree Growers Are Busy
Christmas Tree Growers Are Busy
With the farm and ranch report, I'm Rick Worthington. We told you last week about a shortage of Christmas trees in 2019. Which isn't to say there are no trees available, but for some. You could see a price increase or less trees available the longer you wait to buy Christmas. Tree producers, though, are already in the Christmas spirit. In fact, for Christmas tree farmers, it's Christmas time 24/7. Carl Assault with the Washington State Department of Agriculture says Christmas tree farmers have been busy taking care of those trees all year long, not just when it's time to cut them down and send them home.
With buyers pruning throughout the year at several different times, they get that nice traditional Christmas tree cone shape as well as know checking for past the they share their fertilizing or they have enough water. So Christmas tree growers, you know, they really do celebrate that spirit of Christmas all year long.
And for those trees that are shipped out of state, the process is even a little more complicated because they have to be inspected first.
Keep an eye full out for any type of unusual disease or pests that might be in that tree and shipped into the state. That actually happened last year where we discovered that there was a disease that we don't have here in Washington that was brought in on Christmas trees from another state.
And just so you know, Noble and Douglas fir trees are the most popular Christmas trees sold in Washington, accounting for about 90 percent of all sales.
