Rain takes a toll on local Christmas tree farm

PRESTON, Md. – When you head out to a Christmas tree farm, you can typically expect to see hundreds, or perhaps thousands of trees of all different shapes and sizes but this year, that’s simply not the case. That’s because we’re experiencing a shortage of Christmas trees.

At the Nichols Tree Farm in Preston, they’ve lost 75% of their tree crop and they’re blaming it on the weather.

Bruce Nichols said, “Well the crops been reduced because for the last four years we’ve had excessive rainfall events. It’s led to disease, it’s Fusarium root rot, and it knocks out a lot of trees.”

Many of the trees with root rot have been growing at the farm for quite some time.

Nichols said, “It takes a long time to grow a tree. A lot of them take 16 years or more.”

Bruce Nichols tells us there’s not much he can do.

“I can irrigate, but I can’t take the water away from the soil,” he said.

While the rain has certainly cut into the Nichols Tree Farm’s profits, we’re told they won’t be changing their prices.

Unfortunately, we’re told the same doesn’t go for other tree farms who are also dealing with losses.

Nichols said, “Price is always changing, they’re fluctuating with demand and supply and you know, it’s dynamic but it will change.”

Despite this year’s losses, there are still plenty of Christmas tree’s up for sale at the Nichols Tree farm in Preston, and if live Christmas tree’s aren’t your thing, you can always go artificial.

Nichols said, “Any Christmas tree, whether its an artificial one or a live one or a cut one, is just symbolic. If people enjoy it, just go get one.”

If you want to buy a live Christmas tree this year, now is the time to do it, before all the good ones get taken. Also, if you plan on getting a tree from the Nichols Farm, be prepared to cut it down yourself and pay in cash because we’re told they don’t accept card.

The farm is open 7 days a week from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM.