Christmas tree harvest ending

[Pilot]

Helicopters are gone, it's quiet once again as the tree harvest winds down.

2.8 million trees are shipped from Clackamas County, Oregon, the biggest Christmas tree growing county in the world; 7 million were shipped from the state in 2007. North Carolina is #2 at about 3 million trees.

Most industrial tree farms are about 20-60 acres, some a lot more. If it's about 20+ acres, trees are usually harvested by helicopter. Crews cut and bundle the trees and the chopper picks up the bundle, flies it to the drop zone and is back for another load in 25 seconds. It's faster than hauling them out of the field on tractor pulled trailers and no growing space is lost to roads. Also labor is cheaper as it's easier to bundle the trees on the ground than lift them one at a time onto a trailer.

The helicopter operation is a little dangerous, as they fly less than 100 ft. high with the trees slung on a cable, maybe 20 ft. off the ground. If those trees hit anything it pulls the helicopter right down. A pilot was killed down the road from us about 12 years ago when the trees hit a powerline she must have known was there right beside the road.

Springwater Rd. on which we live had a lot of traffic yesterday as folks came out from the metro area to cut their own trees. It's the most traffic we ever see.

I don't grow Christmas trees. When I bought my property the first thing I noticed about Christmas tree growing is that the harvest op happens during the lousiest weather we have, 33 degrees, raining, blowing. And you can't just plant them and forget them, they sometimes need spraying and they all need pruning to make them look unnatural, which offends my senses, since I spent 25 years as a forester.

But it's fun to watch the helicopter ops.

 

[JB4310]

I heard the tree growers are taking a big hit in their wallets, Demand is down??

There was some lobbying to get Govt help, I heard on Rush Limbaugh.

I noticed the prices lower than in the past, Lowes had 5 foot trees starting at $19.

Don't know why demand would be down, a fake tree is $200. at Lowes. I was shocked, but I never really looked at fake trees before. Still real tree for me.

JB

 

[aczlan]

Don't know why demand would be down, a fake tree is $200. at Lowes. I was shocked, but I never really looked at fake trees before. Still real tree for me.

A couple of years back we got a 10ish foot fake pre-lit (LED lights) tree for ~$75 in an after Christmas sale (was ~$200 before the sale). We may eventually get or grow a real tree, but for now a fake one works and has for the last 4 years (now it saves us money).


Aaron Z

 

[Western]

That is interesting, I would have thought using a Helo would be more costly, but I guess they did all the "calculating" or they would'nt use them.

Only real trees for us too, love the smell:thumbsup: I guess with a "fake" tree you could spray it with Pine-Sol

 

[65fl]

Interesting post, I enjoy reading about how 'stuff' is done in other parts of the country/world. Only real trees for us too, our's comes from a farm just down the road. Wife won't let me harvest one from our acerage.

 

[Depmandog]

Pilot

You mentioned no roads in the fields...interesting. Way back when I was in high school, I helped a tree farmer in north Missouri spray his Christmas trees with a green coloring solution. He did the spraying a few weeks before harvest. I say he, but he drove the tractor and solution tank. The rig stayed on the "road" -me and another kid each had a long hose and we would run 50' or so into the trees on each side of the tractor, working our way out dousing them with coloring. What a workout.

The farmer said it helped keep the green color of the trees. Perhaps he used coloring because he would harvest early (September), load them onto semis to be shipped out of state. Maybe because Missouri summers can be brutal and our needles are naturally less green. Have no clue.

You mentioned no roads, which made me curious - do you know if they still spray trees? Or have they modified the genetics to keep them green? Or do the use helicopters or crop duster type aircraft to spray? Curious is all.

Thanks for posting. Very interesting!

Dean

 

[Nick D]

That's really interesting, I always wondered how that was done.

We only do a real tree here too.

 

[Pilot]

Dean,

Our trees stay naturally green, but the harvest doesn't start until Thanksgiving week. I imagine if they were cut in September they would be brown by Thanksgiving.

They are often (usually?) shipped in refrigerated trucks.

A guy who used to work for me at the Forest Service had an after hours business where he would arrange with tree farmers to ship to retailers he knew in Oklahoma. Again, those trees weren't cut until late November.