Is drought in the Northeast affecting Christmas tree farms?

AccuWeather

If you're heading out to buy a Christmas tree this winter, the recent drought won't have much of an impact, but tree farms operate on a much longer timetable than many of us.

Transcript

00:00Thanksgiving has passed and with Christmas on the horizon, families all

00:04across the country are ready to pick out their Christmas trees. We love coming

00:08being able to choose your own tree to cut it down. It's just it's a great

00:12experience. The Gleason family has been coming to Mansfield Christmas tree farm

00:16in New Jersey for the past nine years. Their daughters, Parker and Remy now

00:21grown playing a huge role in picking out the perfect tree this year. I think

00:27just like the shaping and like how tall so it actually fits through the door.

00:31So leading into this season, many wondered if the drought across the

00:35northeast would impact Christmas tree sales. Thankfully, any issues that other

00:40farms may have faced aren't running into any problems for Christmas trees

00:44this year. Here in Mansfield, the farm has been incredibly proactive, losing

00:49less than 1% of its trees. They're crediting rain earlier in the season

00:53and moisture retaining soil for helping their trees survive. The trees

00:58are the most vulnerable when we first plant them when they're babies, their

01:02roots aren't established yet. I'm not sure if you realize, but some of these

01:05bigger trees, they actually have roots that go down several feet and they're

01:09able to grab the water. Still, we always plant in mid to late march so we can

01:14get full all that rain that comes in the spring in april to make sure that

01:19the tree is able to get established as soon as possible. But the situation

01:23across the region paints a much drier, more uncertain future for Christmas

01:26tree growers. On some farms, high percentages of young seedlings failed

01:31to survive this growing season without enough water. Small trees simply can't

01:35develop the strong roots they need to grow into the holiday staples will see

01:39years from now. It's really an 8-10 year process. So anything that we've

01:44planted this past spring would really be available in that 2035 area, 2034.

01:50So it takes time and a lot of work. When those years arrived, some farms

01:54may face issues like fewer available trees, leading to increased demand and

01:59higher prices across the northeast. But again, for shoppers this year, there's

02:03no need to worry. The mature trees ready for sale were planted well before

02:07these dry conditions set in for Accuweather. I'm Allie Reed.

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