If you haven’t bought a Christmas tree for this generation yet, quickly cheer up – prices are more or less the same as in 2023.
Producers did not expect wholesale prices to rise, according to annual report survey The Real Christmas Tree is supported through the Board, primarily based in Howell, Michigan, and through annual fees paid by growers and importers.
“It’s very similar to last year. As we’re hearing, wholesalers are maintaining their prices,” Jill Sidebottom, a spokeswoman for the Nationwide Christmas Tree Association, a business staffer that advocates for the tree business, told CBS MoneyWatch. Gave.
For consumers, Christmas wood will cost about $80 this holiday season, compared to $75 in 2023 and in line with figures from last generation, according to Crowder.
“Since COVID, thankfully the demand has been very high, and we appreciate that families are still planting real trees. The alternative is plastic, and that’s not good for the environment,” said the owner of Angevine Farms in Warren. Lisa Angevine-Burgess, Connecticut, and executive director of the Connecticut Christmas Tree Growers advised CBS MoneyWatch.
“The closer you get to the city, the more expensive it is,” he said.
Christmas tree prices have increased over the past 15 years due to declining supply.
“The original tight supply dates back to 2008, when there was an oversupply and growers stopped planting so many trees,” Sidebottom noted, noting that it takes up to a decade for a tree to grow. Is. The closed season, including the 2021 heat dome, also killed large numbers of trees in the Pacific Northwest, he said.
Christmas wood is grown in every American climate, with Oregon, North Carolina, and Michigan producing the most. Shrubs are also imported from Canada, along with tree varieties including Douglas fir imported from British Columbia.
Drought conditions in some parts of the country in recent months have led to accidents, wildfires in parts of the East Coast and tree farmers facing sleepless nights as the roots of the trees rot in the autumn. were not properly hydrated, they would not be able to shape it.
“We were very concerned that it would affect the trees this year. Thankfully, we haven’t seen any problems,” Angwin-Berges said. “We started cutting down some trees early just to see, and in November we started to realize that this year’s trees weren’t going to be affected – taller trees have deeper roots.”
Now a nearly 8 foot tree for the Christmas holidays usually takes about 8 years to grow, white pine, for example, grows for a short period of time and white cedar and spruce wood take longer to grow .
“There’s about a foot of growth a year, so you’re sitting on your money for a long time,” Sidebottom said, referring to the financing made by growers as they grow their plants as they germinate and mature into wood. Waiting to happen.
Similar to the holiday season shopping for groceries, American citizens have extended the time since purchasing Christmas wood. In the latter generation, one-third of US citizens purchased their Christmas wood during the date after Thanksgiving and another 33% did so during the first of December, according to a survey of 1,499 adults taken in August and September in the second generation. According.
Another 16% purchased their tree the second of December; 14% claimed a tree before Thanksgiving; The survey found that 3% on the third of December and only 1% on Christmas Eve.
“This trend now goes back even before Thanksgiving,” Angwin-Bergs noted.
Looking longer into the future, “We never sold trees before Thanksgiving,” Angwin-Berg noted of her nearly 50-acre farm, which has been within the community for 156 years and has been selling Christmas wood since 1960. “As a kid, we were always busy on Christmas Eve, and now you won’t necessarily be open, a lot of farms have already been sold, and there are a lot of farms that have already been sold and closed Are done.”
