Rick Brown of JB Tree Farm picks up a spruce in the garden near Alexandria. Christmas tree stock looks good for this year, growers say. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

The weather forecast may not reflect it, but it’s starting to look a lot like Christmas — at least for the state’s Christmas tree growers.

While Thanksgiving is more than a week away, Christmas tree sales begin this weekend for Sellers Tree Farm near Bedford and Tait Farm Christmas Trees near Boalsburg. JB Tree Farm near Alexandria will start Christmas sales after Thanksgiving, Friday, November 29th.

This year, the supply looks good, thanks to successful plantings several years ago, the growers said.

Gerrit J. Strathmeyer II, president of the Pennsylvania Christmas Tree Growers Association, said there may be a shortage of the larger trees, but supply should be good in the 6- to 8-foot range.

Strathmeyer, whose family operates Strathmeyer Christmas Trees in York County, said the shortage of taller trees is the result of the 2008-10 recession, when some growers went out of business, resulting in fewer trees being planted.

It takes as little as four years and as much as 15 years for Christmas trees to reach the desired height for harvest, according to the National Christmas Tree Association.

That time frame is important, because weather conditions during those growing years affect the final product—resulting in shortages years later.

This year’s drought may not be apparent until five or more years down the road, said growers affected by the dry weather.

“I lost every plant I planted,” says Rick Koontz of Sellers Tree Farm.

Koontz put in about 4,000 plants this spring and said losing those plants will hurt his supply for about five years, though he’ll try to recover with next year’s plantings.

Koontz also began losing larger trees because of the continued dry weather, despite plenty of watering, he said.

“By July 4, I watered everything I could. … We really watered,” he said. The area received five inches of rain from the remnants of the second hurricane this summer, “but the drought had done a lot of damage,” he said.

Still, the three-quarters of an inch of rain that came Sunday, Nov. 10, “made me feel good,” he said, because that rain helped rehydrate the trees heading into harvest season.

Strathmeyer agreed that this year’s loss in plantings will affect inventory and supply six to eight years down the road.

“In July and August in York County, we went seven weeks without rain,” he said. “It can cause trees to dry out faster.”

Tait Farm was also affected by the drought, which left the trees “not holding their needles as well,” said manager Emily Zink. “With drought, you can expect a loss of up to 30 percent. We lost a lot of the smaller trees that we planted last year but we have an inventory of 20,000 trees,” she says.

She also credits the Nov. 10 rain for adding moisture when it was needed.

The rain “was a blessing, we cheered when it rained,” Zink said. “It was perfect timing. The trees drink what they need.”

JB Tree Farm saw minimal damage from the drought, said co-owner Evelyn Bookhammer.

“We lost a few plants in the field and even one or two larger Fraser firs, but mostly where the soil conditions are rocky,” Bookhammer said.

The drought in some areas did not affect the Eagle Street Estate Christmas Tree Farm in Morrisdale, Clearfield County.

“We had a lot of rain up here in my area. In July and August we had about eight or nine inches and we had an early growing season,” said owner Jim Holencik. “I’ve been very blessed.”

Holencik said he didn’t have any trees die from drought, and the farm didn’t experience dry weather until mid-September.

As for the early growing season, “We had buds in the first week of May, which usually doesn’t occur until Memorial Day weekend,” Holencik said.

Holencik wholesales Christmas trees and will have a retailer coming this week to buy 1,500 Fraser trees. The trees will end up in the York and Dover areas, he said.

The retailer takes all the trees in a week, usually in one or two days, Holencik said. “He has a crew that comes and cuts them down and bales them so they’re fresh.”

Despite the challenges brought by the drought, Christmas tree growers said they will have plenty of trees available this year.

“We plan to have a good variety of trees in the normal range with some larger trees on the lot and on special order,” Bookhammer said of JB Tree Farm.

Of those trees, Bookhammer said Fraser fir and Douglas fir are the biggest sellers.

“They have a great smell, good needle retention, are strong enough for ornaments and have a great shape,” she said.

Tait Farm’s Zink said Canaan firs make up about 90% of sales. These trees are very similar to a Fraser fir, they look about the same and have good needle retention, she added.

Strathmeyer said his farm grows both Fraser and Douglas firs, noting that the Fraser fir can hold heavy ornaments, has a green-blue hue and is very good in stock.

Douglas fir, he said, is good for lighter ornaments and is a medium green with no blue tint.

Sellers Tree Farm offers selection and cutting of Christmas trees in Fraser, Concolor and Douglas Fir varieties, as well as Blue Spruce.

Despite challenges that Christmas tree growers face, the industry is vital to the state.

According to the most recent USDA Census of Agriculture, Pennsylvania ranked second in the number of Christmas tree farms and fifth in the number of Christmas trees.

“It’s a testament to the resilience and consistency of the real Christmas tree industry,” said Marsha Gray, executive director of the Real Christmas Tree Board. “We meet the demand. We sell what we harvest. And we continue to plan a decade ahead.”