Christmas tree farm

[scott_vt]

Hi Xmastreegrower,
Excellent post and thankyou for sharing your knowledge!!! What I dont see is what happens after harvest. Do you go back in and do a general stump removal the following spring after the holidays???

Thanks Again,

scotty

 

[meledward23]

good Question. I am used to growing operations that remove the roots (Whole tree transplant). Interesting to see what a Christmas tree farmer does.

BTW, are would you grow Christmas trees or X- mas trees. In todays world it is a big difference. (oops probably breaks a rule or two asking that, dont answer)....

 

[mathey]

We make sure the stump is cut close to the ground (you'd be surprised at how many people leave a 24" tall stump), then hand plant saplings about 6-12 inches from the stump. This works for a few years...eventually, the whole field is just plowed and prepped for replanting. The older stumps/roots rot away pretty quickly, and the newer roots aren't all that large.

 

[RonR]

Mathey,

We have a local "Pick it yourself" tree farm. He does a lot of things right in my opinion.

First, his location is less than 1/2 mile off the paved road, so bad weather/poor roads are not issues.

You park in a lower area, then walk into the tree field. It is segregated by a couple of streams, so he can somewhat control where the people go. When he's cutting in the "far" field, you can ride a hayrack to the cutting area, then haul your tree back on the trailer. One kid does nothing but SAFELY drive the tractor/hayrack.

Once you pick, one of several kids with the hand saw comes over to cut your tree for you. This costs him some in labor, I'm sure, but I'd bet his insurance is cheaper, and he "sells" that all you do is Pick It, We Cut It. Also, looking at your house pics, you don't want some yahoo cutting down one of your landscape trees!

He also has a homemade "shaker" to shake the needles out of your tree. It's made from a sickle mower pitman and runs from an electric motor. The kid who cuts your tree takes it to the shaker, shakes it while you pay in the travel trailer next to it. You can enjoy a "free" hot chocolate or coffee after you get your tree (build the cost into your tree price).

They provide twine to wrap the tree for hauling and/or tying it on top of your car.

It's PAINLESS for the customer, and everyone smiles. My guess is he makes some good money from it, and hires only seasonal kids to help. He's a retired teacher, so he has had access to laborers!

They leave their stumps (cut to the ground level by the first cut of the tree) and hand plant next to the stump. It rots in a coupla years.

Hope you can glean something beneficial from this.

ron

 

[scott_vt]

Thanks for the clarification !!!

scotty

 

[mathey]

thanks for the info Ron...

I too am less than 1/4 mile from a busy road, so my "advertising" will be one sign on that road. We are such a small operation, we won't have a shaker, and most likley no baler either. We'll need to control how many people we get at any one given time.

On the other hand, my FIL's operation is huge. Its not unusual for us to handle 300 trees per day there. We have 2-3 people who do nothing but park cars, 2 in the Christmas shop running the registers, 4-5 guys running 2 twine balers and one shaker non-stop, 2-3 "greeters" who greet and point people in the right direction, 3-4 guys running around in trucks picking up trees to bring in (they each have a chainsaw, and will cut your tree if you ask nice or are pretty). This year we had my BIL serving hot food all day along with the complimentary hot cider we've always offered. It's actually a lot of fun, and some of the help is family (3 SIL's, 2 BIL's, my son and daughter and the in-laws)

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( you don't want some yahoo cutting down one of your landscape trees )</font>

Many years ago, my parents, along with a 5 year old granddaughter they raised, moved to Anchorage in October. By sheer coincidence one of my brothers got transferred to Elmendorf AFB the same month. So when Christmas came around, my brother and my mother decided to go out in the boondocks at the edge of town and cut their own Christmas tree, and they did. After the snow melt in the Spring, they were out driving around familiarizing themselves with the area and discovered that they had cut the top out of a big tree in a city park. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[SnowRidge]

Must've been a bad snow year. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[scott_vt]

That was a good one Bird. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Quite a few years ago my Dad was trying to help out my wife and myself knowing we were raising a couple of kids and we were a little short on cash. He had a nice blue spruce growing on his property line and he topped it so we could have a nice tree. What he didnt do was cut it down completely, the next spring his neighbor comes over to him and asks him when he is cutting the rest of the tree down /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

scotty

 

[rox]

6or7dazeaweek

I think it is wonderful to start a new enterprise, to learn something new. I do beleive it keeps you young.

One tip, I would think that mostly 25 - 40 year olds would be interested in cutting their own trees. Please do not forget Internet advertising. People that age get 90% of their information form the Internet So while you are waiting for your trees to go you can spend the time deloping a good website.

I use www.NetFirms.com to host the website for our olive oil. I am very very very pleased with their service and price.