Drought Affects Christmas Trees

Missouri’s prolonged drought is affecting this year’s crop of Christmas trees. Tree farm owners say they do have some concerns after the extremely dry conditions.One local farmer says he grows three different types of trees, but this year, he is only able to sell two of those types after the drought destroyed the third.Boone County farmers say customers are getting scared off because of this year’s dry weather.”There are a lot of farms that aren’t making it, but we do we grow Scotch Pines, very hard trees, so you know there are still thousands of beautiful Scotch Pines out there for Christmas trees,” Starr Pines Christmas tree farmer Ann Harmon.Another local farmer says they haven’t had too many problems with their pine trees, which are popular in Missouri. However, their fir trees did suffer from the extreme heat.”Well we have been growing the fir like this, for five years,” said farmer Wayne Harmon. “In the last two years it has been very dry, and we’ve learned that if you don’t water them, you will end up losing them.”Farmers say they will have to keep up on irrigation to ensure that seedlings planted earlier this year get started for future holiday seasons. Otherwise, some may hold off on planting seedlings until next fall because the farmers are seeing more available moisture in the winter.