National Christmas tree shortage hits the Eastern Shore

HEBRON, Md. – With Thanksgiving next week and Christmas around the corner, its time to start looking for a Christmas Tree before its too late.

The national Christmas tree shortage is hitting home home as local farmers here on the Eastern Shore are swaying away from growing Christmas trees because of the commitment with the land and the time that it takes to grow these trees to maturity.

Farmers on the Eastern Shore, like Bill Jones of Hebron, say it’s just too risky of a venture to jump into.

“The cost of the seedlings, the ground preparation and the maintenance on the trees and the land for fifteen, to sixteen to twenty years and that’s a long time and a lot of investment,” Jones said. “The land is more valuable to me because I grow a lot of vegetable crops from my personal use and selling.”

This has left the demand high for Christmas trees and supply low, especially locally.
Bruce Nichols, owner and laborer of Nichols Farms, is one of the few Christmas tree farmers still operating here on Delmarva.

“It’s a lifetime of learning, experimentation and changing your process as new diseases become available, drought, late frost everything works against you.”

Nichols has been in the business since he was eight years old and he says it can take several years before the trees are ready to sell.

“Eight is the youngest we can sell, and most of them get up to about sixteen years of age.”

Nichols says that two feet of growth can take up to four years. That’s four years of work, watering and hoping that they are not lost to the elements or even deer.

“They like to use their antlers against the bark on the white pine and they will mow off almost level at times.”

“We have lost people about a hundred in the field out front, and probably 30 in the back, but that is the price of doing business.”

Both Jones and Nichols say that the cost of seedlings has skyrocketed as well, lowering the profit that farmers can make.