Anyone have experience raising and selling Christmas Trees to the public?

[ultrarunner]

Part of the old Homestead my brother bought this year is in You Cut Christmas Trees...

The trees have been somewhat neglected since the previous owner passed compounded by the California Drought.

Brother decided to give it a try, partly so the special use permit would continue.

Hope it works out since he needed special insurance, county business license, tax id, workers comp, etc...

Between the live trees and 1000+ cut trees he is going all in...

Just curious if it makes any sense in this economic climate and with Home Depot advertising cut trees for $20?

 

[smstonypoint]

Ag. economics departments at several land-grants publish enterprise budgets for Christmas trees. Budgets for Oregon can be found at Budgets :: Oregon Agricultural Enterprise Budgets, Oregon State University. The budgets are for 2009 and would need to be modified to reflect current prices and the particulars of your brother's situation.

Steve

 

[MossRoad]

Check with the county extension agent. They are surprisingly helpful with suggestions and knowledge. They know about these things.

 

[ultrarunner]

Thanks guys....

 

[MossRoad]

Around here, Christmas tree farms are considered agricultural. That's why the extension agents are so helpful. They can tell you your soil types, what species of trees will do well in those soils, water needs, pest and disease issues in your area, where to purchase stock, where to hire labor (them things need trimming and its a hands-on labor intensive job), etc... And, the beauty of the extension agent is.... drum roll please...... his/her services are free!

Back in 1989 we bought some farm land and had it reforested with alternating rows of pines and mixed hardwoods. We got into a reimbursement program due to our highly erodible soils and they reimbursed us for 75% of the cost of the trees and planting. All we had to do was spray or mow between the rows for 5 years, then we could mow the trees down, for all they cared. Now, 25 years later, we have a nice forest with 40' pines and nice, straight, 50' plus hardwoods poking out above them. Kids can sell them for veneer timber or just keep a nice forest. Total cost to us for 2150 trees planted and side sprayed worked out to five cents per tree.

Christmas trees, however, were not allowed in the soil conservation program. They are a crop of sorts. There are, however, in some locations, government soil stabilization programs that allow Christmas trees. It never hurts to look. Just don't lock into any programs until you know all the details. The extension agents know about those programs, too. Wildilfe plots on the edges of a Christmas tree farm put into reserve can sometimes lower property taxes enough to offset the cost of operations considerably.

Good luck to your brother! :thumbsup:

 

[fishheadbob]

You can't compete directly with HD or Walmart when they're selling trees and wreaths as a loss leader. A few years back I knew a guy who sold a few thousand trees to HD for $19, a great wholesale price. Home Depot trucked them out, distributed them, then sold them for $21.95 .
It's possible to make money in Christmas trees but your relative has to push that his trees are fresher, locally grown, help the small businessman, etc. Trying to beat the big box prices is suicide.

 

[Baby Grand]

Do a little research on organic Christmas trees - I kid you not. A premium crop that the big boxes won't touch might be what your brother needs to differentiate himself (and charge a little more). May take a few years to certify organic.

 

[Fossil Farm]

Thousands of landowners started raising Christmas trees in the late '60's and '70's. Prices are not as lucrative as once thought they would be. Also depends on what trees you are trying to sell. Firs are more in demand around here than scotch pines or white pines. You have to know what your clients want. Of course it takes 10 years to grow a tree, so trends come and go. There is a lot of work in pruning, shaping Christmas trees. Hope your brother is up for it.

You must be careful with cut-your-own. Client cuts one tree, finds a better one, leaves tree one behind. Since the trees are overgrown, he may want to check with landscapers to see what they are looking for and are willing to pay. That may be a better outlet than cut-your-own for a few years. Of course that would be balled and burlapped, so there would be costs in filling in the holes with topsoil. Good luck.

 

[DrRod]

I started growing Christmas trees about 15 years ago and to be honest I don't recommend it [except to grow a few for your own use].

1st - you need to make sure you have a market. Most resellers [including small guys like fruit stands] have long running relationships with big growers. It takes a lot of legwork starting in June to find someone to buy a truckload of trees.

2nd - choose and cut is a whole other business. You need parking, point of sale equipment, usually a Santa and even some reindeer, hot cider, et al. And lots of liability insurance.

3rd - bag and ball requires a special attachment for your tractor, figure $5,000, and again legwork to find a market.

4th - my biggest surprise in the whole thing was that I had to be chemist and a mechanic. You need to understand fertilizer, fungicides, insecticides, and herbicides -- and none of this stuff comes cheap when you are covering acres.

5th - you will need machinery like mowers, brush hogs, shearers, sprayers, and saws -- and none of this stuff comes cheap. Plus you have to maintain it all unless you live very close to a shop.

6th - you can make money if you do all the labor yourself but after all the other expenses, labor will be the killer. And its hard to find people who know what they are doing in mowing, spraying, and [most of all] shearing.

I sold a few small truck loads around Washington, DC and made some money. And then I sold them on a contingent basis at a large chainsaw dealer's in PA and made some money but in the hundreds, not thousands. Certainly not enough to pay for all the machinery and inputs. So I now treat it as an unreasonable hobby and cut some for friends and family. And it makes for a very nice looking field.

Hope this helps.

 

[dmccarty]

The NC Extension office has documents on XMAS tree growing and selling. I thought about it but after looking at our location and its ability to grow in demand trees, the time requirement, as well as money inputs, I decided I had better things to do. :laughing:

I would think the only way to make money is to go big and have hundreds of acres in production or go small and local where people come out and pick a tree. We would have done the latter, and with some advertising, it might have made money. One of my coworkers goes and picks a tree every year and she is going today to do so. The family picks the tree but the tree farmer cuts the tree. No way would I allow people to cut their own tree due to damage and liability.

XMAS tree farming is big business in the NC mountains. I was on a trip last spring in the mountains and went through an area that was full of XMAS tree farms. I don't think those farms were there in the 90's when I was last up there. Raising XMAS trees is alot of work since you have to trim the trees on a regular basis.

Start with the extension office and then see if there is a state XMAS tree organization to get more help. Seems like there is/was such a group in NC when I looked at this 15ish years ago.

Later,
Dan

 

[EddieWalker]

I have no personal experience with cutting trees or even going to a tree farm. There is one just down the road from me that seems to be doing very well. They call themselves a tree farm, but over the years it's gone from a big field of trees to more of a family orientated amusement park. They do hay rides, they have a giant corn maze, they have a few kiddy roller coasters and a restaurant. From what I understand, they don't make any money on the trees, but do fairly well at everything else. Everyone that I know who goes there, makes it a family outing for the day. Last year I noticed they where open selling pumpkins and doing all their other events. The parking lot is always packed when I go by there.

Eddie

 

[ultrarunner]

Christmas trees on this property started in 1970... it was quite rural then.

Brother decided to give it go since he still had about 15 acres in trees... he calls most of them Charlie Brown Trees and priced accordingly for you cut.

Some of the folks stopping are on their third generation... so lots of local interest.

Plenty of easy parking, with high visibility site... three way stop is the gateway to the valley or town...

He did order 1200 cut trees from Oregon and underestimated the labor needed to set up... plus another 2k for poles and lights and a large tent, extra gravel for the lot...

Looks good... just hope it works out because there is now a Lowes and Home Depot within 6 miles...

He got all the licenses, permits, liability, tax id number... etc...

One of the guys that ran the operation for a few years offered to rent the area for 6 weeks for 4k... my brother was very unhappy with all the junk and left over trees he left behind last year prior to my brother buy the place... so it was a deal breaker.

 

[PILOON]

Never sold any myself but my good friend tried that.
He was set up in a large shopping mall and had quality stock.
He rapidly learned that he had to camp there 24/24 as the inventory would shrink considerably overnight.
After all the required equipment (bundlers, wrappers, tractor, bush hog etc etc) it was hard to show a profit.
When he would be at the point of sale folks would be helping themselves back at the farm.
To add to his misery his tractor was permanently borrowed one night.
Then the snomobiles also liked to run down his saplings as they played.

He soon gave up that venture.

 

[ultrarunner]

Sounds like a rough go...

The trees and 15 acres are in view of the house... I guess someone could get over gates and fences to get in after hours...

Snowmobiles won't be a problem... it's been in the mid 70's around here...

 

[Country Geek]

Never sold any myself but my good friend tried that.
He was set up in a large shopping mall and had quality stock.
He rapidly learned that he had to camp there 24/24 as the inventory would shrink considerably overnight.

Yep, every tree lot around here includes a camper with the attendant on site 24/7. Doesn't look like a very fun gig.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yesterday was the official kick off for the Christmas Tree season around here.

I went out to help both days after working the early shift at work.

Have to say it was a lot of fun and there was a constant stream of folks buying trees... today was a little slower.

Surprised homeowners actually buy any trees 12' and up... sold a few both days... even one 18 yesterday.

It was fun interacting with the customers and many had stories of buying trees here going back to the 1970's...

My 12 year old Nephew and 13 year old Niece worked all day and each walked away with over $50 in tips...

I'm hoping the family does real well and this might be the start of a new tradition.

 

[ultrarunner]

Just wanted to add a PS...

Brother has a little redwood grove some distance from the planted u-cut trees.

Sure enough, someone came down the hill with a cut redwood... oh well, charged them $49.50 and they didn't flinch.

Can't say my brother was happy about it... once a tree is cut... all you can do is make the best of it.

 

[MossRoad]

We lived in a house with 11'+ ceilings when I was a kid. Every year we'd go up to an old lady that lived near Lake Michigan a few miles from the Indiana border. Any tree... $5.00. Department stores would buy trees from her for their displays. We'd often buy an 18-20 foot tree. My mom would cut off the bottom branches and make wreaths with them. I still do the same thing, only I get 10 footers and make small bunches of boughs for the corners of the windows. Amazing what you can make with some clippers and a hot glue gun!

That old lady had been at it so long that towards the end of her life, the trees were too big to cut as Christmas trees. My dad would take the top of a 40' tree if it was nice. The old lady was always very happy to see people. I think we were one of her last customers. That was probably 35-40 years ago. The area is a forest now.

 

[MossRoad]

About 16 years ago I brought in a fresh cut tree, set it up, and left town for business, leaving my wife and kids home alone. A couple days later my wife called to tell me there were hundreds of praying mantis babies all over the house! :laughing:

We'd find those things everywhere for the next couple months. On the lamps. In the drawers. In the curtains. Heck, you'd be sitting there reading the newspaper and all of a sudden you'd notice one sitting on top of the page looking down at you.

We go over them looking for egg cases pretty good now.

 

[ultrarunner]

Hopefully no insect issues...

We did have few people that only asked for branches and we happily gave them away...

At the Fresh Cut stand the pile of branches accumulates so plenty to give away.

One thing is for sure... it's proving to be a great way to meet people...

Even though the ranch is only about 35 miles from my home... it's in an area I have never visited and I had no idea what a local tradition it had become going back almost 40 years.

Rain today... most of the activity was in the tent... no pictures to post