The Business of Christmas Trees

I remember both cutting down trees and buying pre-cut trees. But we bought from local businesses who offered trees as part of their seasonal service. It was nothing like the industry of today. Huge swathes of Oregon, North Carolina, Michigan, and smaller competitors are out there investing in the boom or bust business of tree farms. I remember seeing more than one dead tree farm, especially in Texas. You have to keep watering those baby trees, or they can burn slightly, ruining the tree. You have to harvest them carefully, wrap them so you can get them to their destination intact--and you need to keep the mountain in one piece as you do it. It takes about eight years to grow a Christmas tree.

Trees are now harvested with helicopters and it's a fast, risky business. A tree farm has 35 days, period, to make all the income for their year. Everything else is expense.

Read on and see how the business works.