Each year it has become a tradition for families to visit one of the many local Christmas tree farms in Chester County to select their own special tree to take back home strapped to the car. It is fun to decide which of the many different varieties of Christmas tree to select – type, size and shape – and perhaps also enjoy a tractor drive, hot drink and a cookie.

Christmas trees in the home are a delightful family tradition that goes back many centuries. Prince Albert was reputed to have introduced them to Britain around the 1830s and they were probably introduced in to the United States earlier by the many immigrant families that came from Germany and Central Europe.

The Fraser Fir is the most popular Christmas tree variety with its good form, dark blue-green color, sweet scent and soft ½ – 1 inch needles which are retained well on the slightly upward turning branches well suited for decoration. Douglas fir is in second place with slightly longer but also long lasting needles. Many of our Christmas tree farmers grow other evergreen species such as Norway spruce, other fir species and several varieties of pines.

Typically Christmas tree growers start with either two or 3-4 year old plants from specialist plant nurseries rather than small seedlings. They will not take so long to reach the desired marketing height in the field and losses are lower than if small seedlings are planted.

Christmas trees require 7-10 years to reach the desired height for sale. Most people prefer trees to be 6-8 ft. but one of our growers reported that even 12-14 ft. trees are becoming more common.

During those years of growth the young trees need constant attention to control insects and competitive vegetation and even some fungal pathogens may need spraying. Shearing or pruning is alleged to have originated on a farm in Pennsylvania and is now widely practiced to ensure the desired regular and conical shape.

Producers can be full time or part time farmers but it is acknowledged that growing Christmas trees is a year round vocation, certainly not vacation! Most of them in Chester County are close enough to our large customer base and so sell direct to the consumer visiting the farm.

Over one million trees are cut each year in Pennsylvania which has the third highest number both of Christmas tree farms and total trees cut in the United States. In 2014 26.3 million natural “real” trees were sold with a retail value of $1.04 billion and almost exactly half the number of artificial “fake” trees with a value of $1.19 billion.

For many families the annual tradition of visiting the local tree farm heralds Christmas season and is the occasion for being together and making that big decision – which tree should we cut to take home?

In this day and age of greater awareness of our environment it is good to know that Christmas trees do preserve productive open space, provide a livelihood to local farmers and can be recycled. Over 80% of the artificial trees are manufactured in China from non-recyclable materials.

In Chester County we have 35 farms growing Christmas trees on 660 acres, up slightly from 2007. They are located throughout the county from Phoenixville to Elverson, Chester Springs to Parkesburg, Cochranville and Landenberg. The websites www.christmastrees.org list the farms where trees are available and www.chesco.org/AGDEV lists some of the farms and provides a useful map.

Tip – Once the tree get home it is important to make sure that the base is freshly cut and placed immediately in water. The base of the cut tree should never dry out so that there is a constant supply of water to keep the needles fresh. Water will need to be added each day to ensure the base is always covered.

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Top photo credit: Powerful Tree Path via photopin (license)