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Our Trees

Varieties

    You will find our trees growing in four locations on the farm: The front field you first see as you arrive at the farm; the Seedling Bed in the woods next to the house; the Hill Field located across the pond from the back yard; and the Back Field on the far side of the dam. Each of the three tree fields have a variety of species, including Firs, Spruces and Pines, ready to be cut for your family Christmas.

    We've recently introduced several varieties of Fir to the farm: Canaan, Douglas and Fraser firs can be found either out in the tree fields or growing in the seedling bed. Even though they are slower growing and will take 9-11 years to be ready for your home, we enjoy firs for their soft needles, wonderful fragrance and beautiful appearance.

   For Spruces, we offer the Colorado Blue, Norway and White spruce. In fact, most of the trees you see on our farm are Norway Spruce. While not aromatic like Firs, the Spruces offer a full and traditional Christmas tree shape, and good needle retention.

    Pines on the farm include White and Scotch Pine.

From Seedling bed to Living Room -- a 12-year Journey

    Many of our customers have asked, "What does it take to grow a Christmas tree?" While most folks may not have thought much about it, there certainly is more to growing your Christmas Tree than putting a seedling in the ground and then selling it 12 years later.

  We understand our trees become the center piece of your traditional family Christmas and as such, we have a responsibility to ensure your tree is the highest quality, healthy and full tree it can be when you arrive here to choose it, cut it and decorate it.

1. Seedlings Arrive

    The life-cycle of your tree starts when we order seedlings. We plant seedlings twice a year-- November and March. The seedling come from the nursery as bare-root stock. We try to order older seedlings (about 2 years old) as they have a better chance of surviving. Once the seedlings arrive we have to get them out of the box and into the ground within 24 hours.

2. Seedling Bed

    Once out of the box, the seedlings are kept wet and taken directly to the seedling bed where they will spend the next two years developing their root structure. They will grow a little during this time, but we are primarily interested in developing strong, healthy roots for when we move them out to the tree fields.

    We plant the seedlings eight inches apart in tight rows to allow for easier care during this critical period of development.

3. Transplanting

    After a couple of years, when the seedlings are ready to go out to the fields, we dig them back up (being careful not to damage those roots we have been nurturing!), load them into the Gator with some of the soil they've been growing in and move them out to the tree fields.

  Once the seedlings have been planted in the tree rows, it may take a year or two for them to get their roots re-established and start growing again.

4. Annual Growth and Shearing

    Once the tree gets established in the field and starts growing, it will grow as much as a foot per year (sometimes more!), depending upon conditions. New growth usually appears in late April or early May as the bright green buds (in the photo at left). The tree also puts out more growth at it's top, called the "leader."

  Once this new growth is complete and hardens off, usually by the end of June, it is time to start shearing the trees! Each tree must be trimmed and sheared to ensure even growth that results in a beautiful and correctly shaped Christmas tree. This process is time consuming -- each tree takes a minute or two to shear and trim (We lop half of the leader off to keep the tree from growing too fast and then we trim back the new growth for a more even shape). Shearing all the trees on the Farm keeps us busy weekends and evenings well into September. This may seem overly long, but we also have to keep the grass mowed! And then there equipment to maintain and bugs to kill...

5. Maintenance

    In addition to shearing each tree every year, we also have to mow the grass in the tree rows, manage weed growth and control pests like the insects and fungus that attack the trees. Typical pests include our arch enemies: bag worms, Gypsy moths, pine borers and fungi such as Diplodia and photophlera.

    During the Summer, it seems like we never get off the mowers...

   Like all farmers, we have a fleet of equipment, including our Gator, mowers, sprayers, saws, trimmers and tractors we use to grow our trees. Our favorite equipment is for irrigation -- our 1965 GMC-Darley pumper/tanker unit!

6. Christmas!

    Our favorite time of the year!!! Finally, the year's hard work pays off when families arrive and enjoy walking the farm and browsing the tree fields. Especially gratifying is seeing young families establishing traditions with small children, playing hide and seek among the trees, and (if there's snow available), having a good old-fashioned snowball fight!

  We hope you enjoy your virtual visit to our farm and we look forward to helping you with your holiday!

Tree Info

  To learn more about trees and tree farming, here are a few of Peggy's favorite tree & farming links:

• Maryland Christmas Tree Assoc. -- The association of Maryland tree growers and retailers
• Univ. of Kentucky Christmas Tree Info -- Some info on growing Christmas Trees. Go Cats!
• Ohio State Univ. Christmas Tree Growers' Manual
• The National AgrAbility Project -- Assists people with disabilities employed in agriculture

  If you enjoy seeing our antique trucks, you might enjoy a visit to:

• Stovebolt.com -- The premier online community for antique GM trucks