# christmas trees?



## Bottleneck (Apr 22, 2014)

has anybody though about growing christmas trees for a little extra income? I have 75 acres and could easily set aside a couple acres. it would be a few years before the first "harvest", but planting new trees every year could add an income stream, even if the profit isn't huge. this stems from the thought of growing my own christmas tree, and having the little ones replant some every year.


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## Pirri (Dec 11, 2013)

Depending on your location you could make very good money setting up a Christmas tree farm experience. Pictures with Santa, and people will pay top dollar to take their kids out to pick out a tree and have it cut.


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

around these parts you could plant 225 pistachio trees wait seven years for them to produce and then earn about 7-10 thousand a year off of them. This could be done on five acres to boot. Course you got to water them, spray them, prune them etc.


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## Bottleneck (Apr 22, 2014)

pistachio trees wouldn't do so great around here, but thats the same kind of thought that i'm having. plant trees that can provide a crop in the future, something other than selling annual crops in at the farmers market.


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

A couple guys around here do the Christmas tree thing.
I don't think you would see a huge return, but bet you could make some nice Christmas money every year.


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## PerhamMN (Oct 24, 2011)

I've thought about doing this on my land as well. Maybe a little while down the road when I'm a little older!


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

I grew up working a Christmas tree farm. It's a ton of work. You have to keep the trees clean of insects that can kill them or branches. Which means spraying a couple times a year. You have to keep the deer from destroying them. They love to bust up small Pines. Then they have to be trimmed and prunned in late July to middle of August. Which is a hot sticky job. Then right before Christmas you must make sure there are no prey mantis cocoons or other insect nests in there that will hatch in their house a week later. So it's not just a plant and sell venture. Irrigation is a must as they will dry up quickly the first couple years at start up. But if you can manage all that, it's great. Nothing better than seeing the children's faces as they pick their trees. The farm I worked was about 60 acres of trees. And he made decent money at it. But there is overhead involved. Like having at least a million dollars coverage for accidents, farm permits and many times zoning changes. So keep that in mind.


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## mmoetc (Oct 9, 2012)

Everything said above. I live in Christmas tree country. Every few years it seems the White House tree comes from somewhere near here. I'll add that marketing is key. If you wish to make money in any venture you need to be sure you have a market for what you produce. Are you willing and able to have people tromping your land in search of the perfect tree. Are there enough people locally available willing to do it? What infrastructure will you need. Got a tree wrapper. Don't want to sell off the farm. Can you find a lot in town to set up in and give up all that time in November and December. Wholesale. Who are your buyers and what will they pay. It's 6-7 years around here from planting to first harvest and once that tree is cut it's done. 

It's possible to make money doing almost anything but most things arent as simple as they seem.


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## 1948CaseVAI (May 12, 2014)

I worked part time for one for some time and they are a lot of work. They do not grow to that perfect shape naturally - you have to trim them several times while they grow. You also have to spray them with the dye so they are the right shade of green that folks expect. Insurance is high if you allow city folks to come out and use saws on your property, and if you haul them to the field on a hay wagon that is even higher insurance. You have to grow several varieties - folks want a selection to choose from.


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## mustangglp (Jul 7, 2015)

My family grew them for 20 years we had around 5 or 6000 growing at any given time it would take about 5 to 6 year to grow them from seeds. Back then we would sell about a 1000 year 20$ each and we would usually sell out by the 10 of December. Since we got out in around 95 the other tree farms charge 60 to a 100$ dollars but they do not come close to selling all of them we would completely sell a field every year.
If you have any pacific ? I will try to answer as others has said they need to be sheared a few times a year which is no small task ! Selling was lots of fun for the most part but you need a market.


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## Michael W. Smith (Jun 2, 2002)

As others have said - you don't just plant them, forget about them for several years, and then cut them down and sell them and make a big profit - they are a lot of work.

Planting them the first year and making sure they have enough moisture. 
Then there is the trimming and pruning - they don't grow in the Christmas Tree shape all by themselves.
There is usually some kind of weed control also needed.
Then depending on what you do when it's time to harvest - having them cut and shipped requires a tree wrapper. Selling them "as is" and having the customer pick them out requires employees.


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## Bottleneck (Apr 22, 2014)

How does the pruning compare to pruning/training other trees? If I sold locally, I could possibly wholesale to our local general store, or a smaller business and try to pitch the "locally grown" bit. If I'm doing smaller quantities, could that possibly mean not needing a tree wrapper? I'm thinking around 100 to 200 trees.


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## mustangglp (Jul 7, 2015)

We used electric trimmers with small 12volt car batery on a backpack a lot like weed eater with a blade or machetes very sharp ones and we would go around the tree swing in the shape we wanted the tree. Its not so hard as time 5 minutes is a lot when you times it by a few thousand.


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Surprised no one has mentioned all the interaction with government entities too...


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Not all trees need to be trimmed and shaped. It depends on what people expect. I hate trees that have been trimmed into pencil shapes. You do have to babysit them though, make sure they have enough water. Different trees command different prices. Fir trees sell much higher, but they are slower growing. Blue spruce need copper or they won&#8217;t turn blue.


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## Bottleneck (Apr 22, 2014)

Simi - are you referring to something that is specific to trees, or just selling products in general?

Didn't know about the whole copper thing with blue spruce. (and I'm from Colorado)

What if I did a combination of Douglas for, blue spruce, and white pine? I could plant them on contour and build a drip irrigation system for them without much fuss. 

Those of you that have worked on the tree farms, when harvesting, was an entire field clear cut, or just a section? How was replanting done to work around the old roots?


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## ldc (Oct 11, 2006)

I managed a 5 acre tree farm in NJ, in the early 80's. The owner acquired a lot of tree seedlings from the Ag Extension office, some native to our Zone 6 area, others hopelessly exotic! She had us plant them all, so in response to bottleneck above, we harvested one by one, as people stopped by and wanted one. They all grew at different rates in an old red soil worn-out corn field. Down the road from us, another tree farm harvested the whole field at one time and drove them somewhere to the buyer. I trimmed a lot, mowed around the trees incessantly, but had no available extra water, just rain. The soil wasn't retaining water so growth was stunted some years. They were still pretty enough that over time most got sold, and at relatively small manageable sizes. I lived on the place, which helped with selling and against theft. The land owner got a million dollar tax exception as part of the Green Acres Act. The exotic trees were bought by people who stopped just to look, and decided to add a few "to try" in their front yards... There was a lot of poison ivy in that field!


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## mustangglp (Jul 7, 2015)

We clear cut our each when time to harvest with it being u cut . I think the government took 1$ for each tree for timber tax plus sales tax which we included in the price so we didn't have make as much change.
The trees we grew we're Monterey pine and we got the seeds from New Zealand dad didn't like the quality from the At extension . Monterey pine are the fast growing seed to sales in five years in zone 7 They wouldn't like yOurr cold winters.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

Wow. Seems like a lot of work. I am ot sure how well the growers do now that lowes and home depot sell them for $40. 

There was a good article in yankee magazine that talked about other areas to make money like collecting tips for wreaths, making wreaths in your home as piece work for companies, selling pine cones and holly off your land. The article said that seasonal piece work that was done in homes by families each year was one way that many new Englanders got by. The article said now that the companies have to bring in illegals because the locals do not want to do the work. 

Not sure how it all works but I think it wouldn't hurt to grow a small patch of 25 for money to help with bills each year.


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## Bottleneck (Apr 22, 2014)

I think its worth a shot, if nothing else i just end up with some more trees, if i cut them and don't sell them, i'll give them to friends. I picked out some pine cones for seed from some trees a friend has that are very healthy and that grew fast.

we have a new cafe/general store (which brings the county's business count up to something like 3) that I might be able to sell at in the future


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