Any Tree Farmers on here?

[Deere Hunter]

I have about 4 acres of field that I currently use as a dove field, but have thought about beginning a tree farm, either Christmas trees or landscape trees, with some thoughts about wildlife applications. The thing that keeps me out of the Wildlife thing is the narrow market.
Dad has pushed me towards the Christmas tree model. What kind of growth periods would be required to market lelands, Carolina Sapphires, Pines, etc. Is irrigation worth the expense of drilling a well? Is a shaper the best route, or is hand shaping viable to start? Any help on the pros and cons would be appreciated.

 

[Tororider]

John Bud is a tree farmer in WI I believe. He may be able to help you. Good luck

 

[MarkV]

I’d talk to the county extension agent to see what works best in your area.

MarkV

 

[MossRoad]

I had a nice crop of trees planted in 1990. They should be ready for harvest around 2040.

Row of pines, row of mixed hardwood, row of pines, row of mixed hardwoods, etc... pines grow tall and connical shaped fast, which stressed the hardwoods to grow tall and straight to reach the sunlight.

As for Christmas trees, as suggested, seek out the help of your local county extension agent. They know the soil types and what types of trees will grow well there, VS what types will need irrigation, weeed and pest control, etc...

We looked into it, but did not have the time to put into maintaining it. We would have had to hire help, and that would have eaten a lot of the profits. One thing that was suggested was to plant several different age trees the first year. For example, an acre of seedlings, an acre of one year olds, an acre of two year olds, etc... that gives you an earlier starting time to harvest. It also protects you a bit from catastrophic failure of the entire crop, for instance, if the deer decide they like to eat seedlings, they may lay off the two year old trees. Also, don't plant just one variety. A disease can put you out of business.

Best of luck. We still buy a live tree every year.

 

[N80]

Technically, my 250 acres is listed as a farm because it has planted pines of various ages. In SC this gives you a tremendous break on your property taxes. I have not done anything tyo actively manage them, but some areas will need thinning before too long. In SC, you can get a county forester to come look at your place and give you a management plan for free. I have yet to do that.

So if SC considers my property a farm because it has pine trees on it, does that make me a farmer? (Not!)

 

[radman1]

We have had about 10 acres of christmass trees for about 25 years. We sell about 300 trees/year just on the 4 weekends before christmas. You will need to plant new seedlings every one to 2 years so that you will have a continuous new supply. The older, large trees will need to be cut off or pushed out to make room for planting new ones. Just keep rotating the land. We plant scotch and austrian pines. Takes about 6 years to harvest trees in our area which has dry summers. Shape them by hand in the summer. Next year will probably be the last year for us selling trees. Getting older and not worth the time/energy. We also sell some for landscaping. To make any profit on a small scale operation, plan to hand shear and irrigation is too expensive. We sell our trees for $30, regardless of size. I don't mind of someone wants a 15' x-mass tree for $30 because I will just need to cut it off and dispose of it later due to its size. I would guess 15-20% of trees will not be sold due to shape, size, didn't grow, split trunk, crooked trunk or whatever reason. Everyone always wants the perfect tree. The tree with a bad spot on one part won't sell even if otherwise perfect. Put them in the corner or against a wall and the bad spot will never be noticed. Those are the trees that I get or give to friends, family, churches etc. Fresh cut trees will be superior to store bought trees and will last longer. No one will notice the bad side to a store bought tree because it is hidden by the piles of other trees.
FWIW, I think 4 acres is small for the amount of work it requires. Plant a few for yourself, family and friends. It will still be a blast.

 

[Champy]

Last year I planted 600 White Pine and Norway Spruce; this year we will be planting 1000 Scotch pine and Balsam Fir. A lot of work involved for a few times during the year, and then we spent a TON of time this summer trying to water during the droughts (successfully).

If you send me a PM I can email you some info on Christmas Tree farming. The files are too big to post here with the 200KB limits.

Some links:

Christmas Trees: a management guide, EC 76-1741

Ohio Christmas Tree Producers Manual, Bulletin 670-91

Here's one on tree nurseries:

The Container Tree Nursery Manual — RNGR: Reforestation, Nurseries, & Genetics Resources

 

[rvaitor]

Technically, my 250 acres is listed as a farm because it has planted pines of various ages. In SC this gives you a tremendous break on your property taxes. I have not done anything tyo actively manage them, but some areas will need thinning before too long. In SC, you can get a county forester to come look at your place and give you a management plan for free. I have yet to do that.

This is probably a good idea. You'll learn a lot about what you have and how to manage it. In NC, this is required to qualify for the Farm Use classification on your property taxes - they generally require a report(including tax returns) every 3 or 4 years

So if SC considers my property a farm because it has pine trees on it, does that make me a farmer? (Not!)

And, also, not eligible for the 'tremendous break on your property taxes'.