Looking for a Tree for your Holiday Celebration
DEANNA GENTNER
If So, You are in Luck. NY Ranks 6th in the US for the Most Christmas Tree Acreage
As the days get shorter, the sun shines less, and the temperatures drop we are uplifted by the holiday cheer. Beautiful lights illuminating houses, favorite carols playing on the radio, and the many traditions families practice around the holidays. For many of us this includes the timely tradition of dedicating a day to visiting our favorite Christmas tree farm and picking out that perfect evergreen tree to hold our families treasured ornaments. So, I found it oh so fitting to look a little closer at the Christmas tree industry.
New York State ranks 6th in the nation in acreage for Christmas tree operations equating to 750 farms. According to the Christmas Tree Farmers Association of New York the economic impact of this agriculture industry is $13.8 million from 300,000 trees sold. What this looks like in Ontario County according to the Agriculture Census done in 2007 – cultivated Christmas trees, and short rotation woody crops sales were $3,500.
The most important varieties of Christmas trees in New York State are Fraser Fir and balsam fir. Other important conifer varieties in the U.S. (depending on regional preferences) include white pine, Colorado blue spruce, balsam fir, Scotch pine, white spruce, noble fir, grand fir, and Leyland cypress. Something to consider when choosing a Christmas tree is that fir and pines can last for up to a month in your home, while spruces only last for 1 week to 10 days before drying out.
Let’s look at the environmental impact of Christmas tree farms. On a one-acre scale Christmas trees produce 1,000 pounds of oxygen per year, and remove roughly 500 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air. In New York State alone, the 17,000 acres of trees produces roughly 5,740 tons of oxygen each year. So, if you are contemplating purchasing a real tree over an artificial tree you can see the positive environmental and economic impacts of Christmas tree farms.
I wanted to zoom into Ontario County and speak with a farmer locally. I had the pleasure of speaking with Kristen Hanggi from Hanggi’s Christmas Tree farm a 6th generation farm located in Naples. Kristen gave me a snap shot as to what their year looks like on their farm. They begin in April planting a few 1,000 transplants, this year alone they transplanted 5,000 trees. They receive transplants that are 6-12 inches tall and they let them grow until there are knee height. Once the trees are 3-4 feet tall they are touched twice a year. Pruning begins in July and continues until the end of the summer. The varieties that they grow include Frasier fir, balsam fir, Douglas fir, concolor fir, and Nordmann fir. She mentions that Frasier is the most popular Christmas tree on their farm.
Kristen informed me of a very unique fun fact regarding needle retention. In order for Christmas trees to retain their needles they must go through a frost. She stated that oftentimes big box stores that sell Christmas trees receive their trees from the southern United States and thus do not experience that cold period, and will not hold their needles as long as a result. She also informed me how to ensure a longer life for you tree. When trees are cut they immediately start to form a scab over the trunk, and thus can not uptake water as well, to avoid this she recommends making a second cut when you get home and immediately submerse the tree in water.
I was able to visit the Hanggi’s U-cut farm on Garlinghouse Road in Naples over the weekend. It was an absolutely lovely experience you pull onto a beautiful dirt road winding through a beech tree grove still hanging on to their leaves, and as you approach the farm you are greeted with stunning views of the Naples Valley. It was a tough choice for our family in terms of what variety to go with but we decided to go with the concolor fir. It has a gorgeous blue hue, and when you break the needles there is a lovely citrus smell, with soft long needles. As we approach the holiday season and you are looking to find that perfect, tree or wreath please visit http://cceontario.org/agriculture/local-foods for a local listing of farms in Ontario County. And I’d like to take a moment to say that we at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ontario County hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.
Deanna Gentner is the Agriculture Economic Development Educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ontario County.