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       CHRISTMAS TREE GROWERS

I have been growing Christmas trees since 1967.  In that period of time, I have been fortunate to be associated with many other growers – who were always willing to share their experiences and expertise.  Growing trees is constant learning process: sometimes by trial and error, sometimes by observation and sometimes from experiences of others.   I thank those who have assisted in the past, and hope this page will help other growers fine-tune their operations to grow a better Christmas tree sooner.  The various sections below relate our experiences in relation to our operation, site conditions and pests.  Each farm is unique in the ecosystem and will experience various challenges.  Hopefully, some of our experiences will be helpful for you – but I am sure that all conditions do not apply to your farm.

Since we are now in a situation of replanting old fields, we begin by using a merricrusher to grind up the old stumps.  Pine stumps will normally rot in 2 to 3 years, but Fir stumps are very resistant to decay – therefore must be removed.  This process allows us to replant fields sooner, thus we need less acreage.  Also, a cultivated soil is established which can be enriched by fertilizer and lime.  This is then incorporated into the soil, instead of surface applications.  On one farm where we are planting a meadow, we begin by plowing the site, then making additions to the soil before ridge building.

Merricrusher Grinding Stumps	Application of Lime

Soil samples are taken from the various fields to be planted – these are sent to soils labs for testing and adjustments are made to the fields before any new planting is made by the addition of fertilizer and lime.  Generally, pine species do not need any adjustments.  However, fir species are more nutrient demanding.  Douglas fir pH is adjusted to around 5.9 to 6.5.  Fraser & Canaan firs do better at a lower pH, thus rarely do we raise the pH for these – 5.6 to 6.0 is OK.  Our fertilizer applications are mainly to get a high amount of phosphorous into the soils before planting.  This assists in many aspects of plant growth and survival.  Our soils have adequate potash, but some is added anyway. 

On our silt soils, the main problem we have is that the soils have a hardpan or inadequate drainage.  This causes the water table to rise into the root zone during periods of heavy rain or extended wet times.  This causes the root systems to become susceptible to Phytophora root rots.  The photos below depict examples of our problems.

Poor Soil Drainage Kills Christmas Trees

To overcome this problem, we are building “ridges” to plant our trees on.  The first step is the loosening of the soil and laying out the rows with the “greenmachine”.

Then we follow up with this modified disk above right to crown the ridges and dig out the furrow.

The ridges are then seeded to establish vegetation in a 4-foot center band.  We have used orchard grass in the past, but now that we are doing chemical mowing, we are using white clover seed.  White clover is resistant to glyphosate and will eventually form solid stands.

Forming Raised Ridges
Seeding The Valleys
Machine Tree Planting	Straightening and Packing

Notice in these photos the large transplants we use - these are grown in our nursery.  It is our desire to have plants with large calipers and a good top to root ratio.  Generally these are plug + 2’s in all fir species.  These transplants are just one key in shortening the rotation period.

Planted Ridges

Before 2004, our standard herbicide usage was as follows:

• Fall application of roundup at the 1 % (32oz/A.) rate for established grasses and 1.5% for herbaceous weeds.  This was applied in 3-foot bands in tree rows and in rows that were laid out for spring planting.

• In April of the following year, either simazine @ 2# aia and atrazine @ 2# aia or just simazine # 4# aia was applied in these bands to provide pre-emergent weed control.

• Mowing was then done in between the rows to control the vegetation not treated.  We used gravely mowers with sicklebars to make the first mowing in early May.  This was followed with mowing as needed to keep the vegetation suppressed – mainly to limit the habitat for moles and meadow mice.

Results of Fall applied Glyphosate	Mouse Damage - Kills Trees

In 2004 we began experimenting with the use of glyphosate at low rates and low volumes to do what is termed “chemical mowing”.  This was using about 8 to 12 oz. per acre of glyphosate (original roundup) with no surfactants.  No damage was observed on the new young foliage at anytime using these low rates.  The applications were on fir, spruce and Scotch pine only…. We do not grow white pine – these would be damaged by glyphosate.

The principle in chemical mowing is that these low rates of glyphosate will stunt/stop the growth of the plant.  It takes about 6 to 8 weeks for growth to recover and in need of a second application.  The timing of the second application is critical – desirable groundcover can be eliminated if applied to early or at to high a rate per acre.  We also found that using a lower rate per acre can kill summer annuals.

Chemically Mowed Areas
Chemically Mowed	One Row Missed

Some of the results are indicated in these photos.  Notice in the 4^th photo that one row was missed and the subsequent size of the vegetation.  A special note as to our method of applying glyphosate:  We do a directed spray pattern.  None of our applications are over the tops of the trees.  We do hit some foliage toward the bottom whorl, but this is limited and so far has not caused any damage.  I suggest that if you try this method, you first learn how to calibrate your sprayers accurately – and then use only on a trial area first. A constant ground speed is important.  Our equipment is set up with a tank & nozzles in front of a Steiner spraying a directed 18-inch band on each side.  Behind this rig is a 25-gallon trailer sprayer, using a single flood nozzle (TK), which does a band 4 or 5 feet wide, depending on our row spacing.  Generally the calibration works out to where we are applying about 10 gallons of water per treated acre.

Treating For Rhabdocline Needlecast Disease

Douglas fir has been grown on our farms for many years with few disease or insect problems.  Beginning in 2003 we had a very wet season.  This made conditions favorable for Rhabdocline and Swiss needle cast diseases to infect our Douglas fir trees.  During the 2003 season we did no spraying to control this disease and had extensive damage and unsalable trees for that year.  In 2004 we began a control program using chlorotholonil.  The first spray is done at budbreak, followed by 2 or 3 additional sprays.  This has been successful in controlling the disease on areas treated, but we are finding that additional treatments of younger trees in the future will be necessary.

8 Foot Deer Fence

One of the major obstacles to growing evergreens is the browsing by whitetail deer.  Many of the repellants do work, but the cost and application volume that is needed to protect larger trees makes their use prohibitive.  One repellant, which we use and have in the past to protect young trees, is “Tree Guard”.  This repellant will last all winter and if applied before damage is incurred, will prevent browsing damage on most of the crop.  We have also experimented for 25 years with various deer fences.  We began by constructing 5 wire electrified high tensile fences, but found that they were ineffective.  Later these were modified to 10-wire slant fence with 8000 volts on alternating wires.  This worked much better, but with our high population and over browsed woodland the deer were starving unless they had access to our fields.  They managed to tolerate the voltage or find weak places in the fences and made them useless.  We now are constructing 8-foot vertical fences as a permanent obstacle.  This has worked well.  Big game fencing is expensive and difficult to handle without specialized equipment.  We use standard 4-foot woven wire on the bottoms, with 8 strands of 12.5-gauge high tensile wire above that.  14-gauge aluminum batten wires are then weaved around the 8 wires to give them stabilization.

"We are members of and support the National Christmas Tree Association" and the West Virginia Christmas Tree Growers Association.  For more information in joining the West Virginia Association you can email.

Other links that you may find interesting are: Captain Jack's Christmas Tree Farm Network; Maryland Christmas Tree Association; Pennsylvania Christmas Tree Growers Association

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Last update:  March 07, 2007
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