College of Forestry

There is a lot more to successful Christmas tree production than planting seedlings, and waiting 7-10yrs before coming back to harvest them. A successful operation begins with an assessment of property's capacity to grow trees, as well as your own skills and ability to provide the needed care and marketing.  Growing trees includes steps of planting, weed management, culturing and harvesting.  In the end, many people find that growing the trees in the easy part: marketing the trees is the hard part.

This website is meant to provide small Christmas tree growers (or potential future growers) access to some basic information about managing Christmas trees, beginning with these Extension publications on Christmas trees, available on line.  They may be in either a web or print friendly format.  Look for "print version"  if that is what you are interested in.

Deciding What to Grow (or not)

• What Can I Do with my Small Farm?  Selecting an Enterprise for Small Acreages.
  If you are looking at Christmas trees because you are searching for a crop, this publication will help you think through what crop might be right for you is.

Basic Management

• Growing Christmas Trees in the Pacific Northwest   
  A fairly new publication that gives you lots of general information about growing Christmas trees. This begins with a brief section on judging opportunity and risk, before going into management.

More Detailed Guides

• Developing High Quality True Fir Christmas Trees
  Gives more specifics on management of true fir species (Noble and Grand), including culturing techniques.
• Developing Sheared Douglas-fir Christmas trees
  Gives more specifics on management of Douglas-fir, including shearing and other culturing techniques
  .
• Christmas Tree Nutrient Management Guide for Western Oregon and Washington
  This looks at conifer growth, and how to assess and correct nutritional needs of Christmas trees.
• Nutrient Management Guide.  Laboratories Serving Oregon: Soil, Water. Plant Tissue and Feed Analysis. 
  Provides a list of analytical laboratories able to do tissue and soil analysis.

Video Tapes

• Esquilar y Cultivar Arboles de Navidad (Shearing and Culturing Christmas Trees) video.  VTP 3.    Can be ordered on line for $43.  The English language version is out of stock.
  
  • Both tapes may be available for loan from selected OSU Extension offices.
    

Additional Information

Leader Control

OSU has been experimenting with European techniques of using plant growth regulators to control the length of leaders on noble and Nordmann fir, rather than cutting them. 

Find out what all the buzz is about.

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/washington/forestry/Christmastreeleadercontrol.htm

Web Sites to watch

Mike Bondi (Clackamas County Extension) has a web site and includes a some one page reviews of production costs.

Clackamas County Christmas Tree Program

Cost Return Estimates for Noble Fir

Cost Return Estimates for Douglas fir

Christmas Tree Weeds, Diseases and Pest Management

• Christmas Tree Diseases, Insects, & Disorders in the Pacific Northwest: Identification and Management.
  This classic belongs on the bookshelf of every grower.  Published by WSU, it can be purchased at: http://cru84.cahe.wsu.edu/cgi-bin/pubs/MISC0186.html
• Sudden Oak Death and Phytophthora ramorum: A Guide for Forest Managers, Christmas Tree Growers, and Forest Tree Nursery Operators in Oregon and Washington.
  This is disease causes a marketing issue, rather than a production issue. 

Other Disease/Weeds/Insects/Calibration Info

http://plant-disease.ippc.orst.edu/

http://weeds.ippc.orst.edu/pnw/weeds

http://insects.ippc.orst.edu/pnw/insects

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/misc/xmastree/index.htm

http://www.bugwood.org/christmas/

http://www.ent.orst.edu/urban/christmas_tree_pest_management.html

Calibrating and Using Backpack Sprayers  [link to PNW 320]

This publication also has a companion video Calibrating and Using Backpack Sprayers  [link VTP 17]

Finding Seedlings:

Where can you find the tree or shrub seedlings you need to complete your project? Here are some places to start.

• Sources of Native Forest Nursery Seedlings
  An Oregon Dept of Forestry publication (revised annually) 
• Forest Seedling Network
  An interactive website to help you find seedlings and services.

Other Links

Some useful sites to visit, where you may find other helpful information

WSU has a helpful Christmas tree page from its Small Farms Team http://smallfarms.wsu.edu/crops_christmas_trees.php

The Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association is the local trade organization (and publisher of Christmas Tree Lookout)
http://www.nwtrees.com/

The National Christmas tree Association
http://www.christmastree.org/home.cfm

Penn State Christmas tree page
http://ctrees.cas.psu.edu/default.html

Something about marketing from UMaine http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/7009.htm

Information on the Christmas tree licensing and Inspection programs: http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/PLANT/NURSERY/about_us.shtml

Forest Seedling Network
http://forestseedlingnetwork.com/
This interactive site helps you find seedlings and services too.