Gotta get your feet wet first. When I was first retailing way back when, I would go spy on other lots. Everybody does it. Drive up to the lot, walk around and check out what the other guy is doing.
Spying on the other guy is always fun and informative. You are not alone. The key to any successful business is knowing that you have to plan. If you fail to plan, you can plan on failing. Hard work, and again, there are so many folks that are more than happy to help on your journey.
Have fun making money. I run a Christmas Tree lot outside my hardware store during the winter season, selling noble firs and craft florist evergreen wreaths and whatnot. If you can find a good supplier to ship them to you, you can save quite a bit and make good money just off the lot.
I am a Christmas tree farmer. Currently trees are selling for cheaper than farmers can grow them for. This is due to a large over supply. I suggest you research market trends before investing money in this industry. Now, this is a unique article on how to make extra money, different from the usual PF reading. I suppose it would take living in a low cost of living area, or at least having your acreage in an area where land prices are dirt-cheap.
Yet, you need to be accessible to people with the means and interest in buying these trees. The land purchase would appear to be critical here, but I could see how this could make some money. How about outsourcing most labor at low rates, to keep it profitable? This seems like a business with low barriers to entry and decent margins for someone just starting out. I love case studies…great story. Thanks for having him on the blog. AverageJoeMoney Low barriers? Where can you sell Christmas trees?
Get ideas like this in your inbox every week. Subscribe Now. Cost to get started selling Christmas trees You can find a detailed breakdown of the myriad costs involved in starting a Christmas tree farm here. What's the ROI of selling Christmas trees? Get started growing Christmas trees on your farm. Land required to grow Christmas trees An acre of land can accommodate up to 1, trees.
Christmas tree farm. Growing conditions for Christmas trees. How long does it take to grow and harvest Christmas trees? What you need to get started growing Christmas trees Though you'll need some heavy equipment down the line, all you really need to get started is some land and seedlings.
Get started selling. Set up a website Christmas trees are beautiful to look at, so it shouldn't be hard to build a gorgeous website to promote your farm. Pick a name If you'd like to get yourself a new domain name for your site, we recommend Namecheap. Get set up on Etsy and Amazon Etsy and Amazon are the two most popular retail marketplaces for pampas grass decor, so you want to make sure you sign up with both of them. Ready to get started? We can help. We'll build a website for your smallholding or hobby farm If you want to make more money from your smallholding or hobby farm but don't want to deal with any of the techy bits, we can help build you a website , set up your social pages, and make sure your analytics are buttoned up..
Focus on your land, not your website. More pollinators doing their thing. Idea 6 - [correct link] How to start a glamping bu. Dwarf purple french beans next to their more tradi. Who knows why bean leaves turn yellow? Dew dropped alchemilla.
Honey Bees Canyon by the sea First sunflower of the season. Name a thyme that smells more lovely than Silver P. Getting the most out of small spaces. Load More… Follow on Instagram. Loved this? Fertilize trees individually the second year by hand by distributing about one ounce of balanced fertilizer , in a inch-diameter circle around each tree.
After two years, either manual or mechanical methods of fertilizer application should be satisfactory. Where nutrients are in satisfactory balance, many growers get good results by applying balanced ratio fertilizers such as or Balanced ratio fertilizers which utilize ureaform as one nitrogen source such as also work well. Where magnesium is deficient, blends such as I cite these recommendations not to encourage you to use chemical fertilizers, but to encourage you to add any needed lime and phosphorus before planting, and to give you a guide as to when trees need which nutrients.
Pruning creates a denser tree by stimulating internodal buds to sprout and grow spruces and firs, but not pines, can produce internodal buds between the annual whorls of branches , promoting the growth of existing branches, and maintaining a desirable shape.
Pines are pruned from the time they are 2 to 3 feet tall about two years after they are planted out , while spruces and firs can usually wait until they are about 4 feet tall. Once you start pruning, you need to prune pines every year. Most growers use a machete to shear their trees.
People who are buying real Christmas trees want them to look like real trees, with the branches reaching out to slightly different lengths in the cone-shaped tree and with occasional spaces in the tree where their ornaments will show up. Department of Agriculture Weekly Market Bulletin. This is one reason why I use long-handled pruning shears to shape my trees, rather than a machete. There are two other reasons. First, I think the shears are more ergonomic, because you use both arms to the same extent to do the pruning.
With a machete, you are swinging one arm up and down for hours, which is hard on that arm and hard on your back. If you are right handed, you are supposed to wear a chap on your right leg and preferably on your left leg, too to prevent shearing that leg when your right hand sweeps the machete down along the tree again and again.
Kevlar gloves are also worn by some workers. The smallest chap I could find was still too large and stiff for me. Since I disturb a nest of wasps or hornets about once a year in our tree plantation, I like to be able to run fast when necessary. With the machete in my hand and the stiff, poorly fitting chap on my leg, I felt quite vulnerable. Hence, the shears. Lots of people are very happy using machetes, though.
Spruces and firs can be pruned any time when they are not actively growing, but new bud development will be stimulated best if they are sheared in late June and into July, when the new growth is beginning to firm. Supposedly, balsams can also be sheared during their active, succulent growth period just before late June.
You should not shear in subzero weather, because twig dieback will occur on cut branches. Pines need to be sheared when they are actively growing and when the new needle growth is one-half to two-thirds the length of the mature needles — about June 10 to July 10 in much of Maine.
A good schedule is to start pruning Scotch pines by July 1, move on to spruces, then do firs, finishing the job by early August. Four types of pruning cuts are made: basal pruning; central leader pruning; lateral branch pruning; and corrective pruning. Basal pruning is removing the lower branches of the tree up to the first perfect whorl.
This is usually done just in the first year of shearing, when the tree is about waist-high. A right angle or flat cut often results in production of several leaders the following year. When trees have more than one central leader, choose the healthiest looking one and remove the others where they join the main stem.
This is best done with hand clippers. Leaving more than one leader will create a multi- stemmed tree. Start pruning the central leaders when the trees are waist-high — at the same time you do basal pruning. The tips of the lateral branches are cut to increase the density and control the shape of the tree. To do this, picture a cone around the tree and cut any branches that extend outside of the cone. If you have to cut into second year wood, bud formation will not be so vigorous, but if only a few branches are involved, the tree should recover eventually.
When you are done, the base should be about two-thirds as wide as the height of the tree. An 8-foot tree, for example, should have about a 5-foot- diameter base. The lateral branches of the top whorl should be cut to two-thirds the height of the pruned central leader. This prevents these top-most laterals from competing with the central leader and becoming multiple leaders themselves.
If the top whorl has too many lateral branches more than 8 or 10 , remove the extras; the remaining ones should be evenly spaced around the trunk. Finally, correct deformities when you are pruning. It may take two or three years to get such a tree back into shape. Some trees should receive the ultimate pruning at this time: complete removal. Get rid of trees that are not growing well due to poor genetics, poor soil, or insect or disease damage any time you see them. The summer before the trees are to be harvested, shear them very lightly so that they have a natural appearance come December.
Supposedly you can prune 50 to 70 balsam firs an hour, depending on tree height and site conditions; pines can take about twice as long. I spend about 60 hours in late June, July and early August pruning the trees in our 3-acre field. The best way to learn how to prune is to read the basics, then go to a couple of pruning demonstrations, read the basics again, then practice on your own trees.
The job soon becomes second nature. Late spring frosts can kill new growth; dry summers can stunt growth; wet summers can cause foliage to turn yellow; deer can feed on the succulent green branches while mice and rabbits can gnaw the trunks; perching birds can break growing tips. In addition, a long list of insects, diseases and mites can attack the trees, and weeds are an ever-present threat. We have had remarkably few problems with such pests.
When late spring frosts have killed a few growing tips, we have just pruned less: frost damage did some of the pruning for us. We have lost some central leaders, but have remedied the damage by corrective pruning: i.
We have had to cull some trees that succumbed to a disease that has sensitive fern as the alternate host; eliminating the fern by mowing or grazing or improving drainage in those areas might help. Most growers in our area spray Scotch pines for weevils, which can ruin central leaders.
According to NCAP, aphids and spider mites, serious threats to Christmas trees in the Pacific Northwest, are best controlled by beneficial insects. The first two are generalist predators on aphids, spider mites, etc. Predator mites and Asian lady bird beetles can also be encouraged in the Northwest, he adds.
It was written for orchardists, but some of the information relates to Christmas trees, as well:. More than one application of predatory mites might be required if you want to reduce pest populations rapidly.
Concentrate releases in hot spots where spider mite numbers are highest. Once established on perennials, predatory mites can reproduce and provide biological control indefinitely without further augmentation unless nonselective insecticides are applied that kill the predators…. Dusty conditions often lead to mite outbreaks. Oil orchard roads or water pathways at regular intervals. Water-stressed plants are less tolerant of spider mite damage. Be sure to provide adequate irrigation. Midseason washing of trees and vines with water might help prevent serious late-season mite infestations.
Carbaryl Sevin , for example, apparently directly cause mites to reproduce faster, and it can further favor spider mites by increasing the level of nitrogen in leaves. Our main problem has been with yellowing and needle cast in the fall — partly a natural occurrence as second- and third-year needles are shed, but one that could be limited, I think, by better fertility, more water during August, and better control of weeds.
Most growers apply fungicides a few times each summer to help reduce this needle cast, which can also be caused by some disease organisms. This can be as early as 5 years of age for pines but is usually about 10 or more years for balsam firs. An area that was planted one year usually will take about three years to harvest, since the trees grow at different rates.
If you are going to sell wholesale, take inventory in the summer and line up your buyers then or sooner. Let buyers know the species, size classes and quality of your trees.
Fir and spruce should be cut after a killing frost has set the needles, while pines should be cut before a hard frost to prevent foliage discoloration and old needle drop. Once trees are cut, they should be stored in a cool, shaded area that is protected from the wind. Trees can be cut right to the ground to produce a tree of maximum height and to leave no stumps over which you might trip.
In the spring you can replant between the stumps. A bud or turned up branch is then cultured into a second tree by removing all of the branches except one in June. If you are selling directly to the consumer, have your advertising ready to run just after Thanksgiving. As with any direct marketing project, word-of-mouth can be your best advertising tool.
Also, you can often get free advertising by letting local newspapers know about your operation. Editors usually are looking for some holiday photo ops in December. We started selling a few about 15 trees two years ago just by letting friends know, either in person or by post card, that some trees were ready and by putting a sign at the end of our driveway. However, it does require regular shearing to develop the desirable cone shape of a traditional Christmas tree.
Most growers purchase their trees as seedlings or transplants a seedling that has been transplanted to a new growing bed to encourage root growth from one of the wholesale growers around the country specializing in conifers.
The cost of seedlings or transplants is low when you consider that the mature trees can be harvested two years sooner than trees grown from seed. One of the big attractions of Christmas tree farming is the small amount of work it takes.
Little is required for the first four years, then an annual pruning helps the trees bush out for the fuller shape that buyers prefer. Many growers make as much, or more, from selling greens, garlands and wreaths than from their cut tree sales.
Some growers prefer to hand wire their wreaths, while others prefer a simple foot-powered wreath machine that uses metal clamps. An experienced wreath maker can produce 6 to 8 wreaths per hour. Growers near a town find selling their trees direct to customers brings the best profits, although it takes more time. For other growers, selling their trees with the help of a community organization such as Kiwanis or Rotary makes sense, as the prices are higher than selling to wholesalers.
This green business can be a win-win for you and our planet. As you can see, growing Christmas trees on a tree farm can bring much higher profits to growers.
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