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Business & Tech

Christmas Tree Growers hit by too Much Sunshine

Drought earlier in year kept tree growth down, but local growers aren't passing on costs.

This year, we were hit by floods, a tropical storm and a freak October snowstorm. Pumpkin crops were squashed and corn was flattened in the Lehigh Valley.

But it was sunshine that hurt the Christmas tree crops in the Emmaus area, a local farmer said. Yes, the good, old sun.

“The trees may not see any affects from the wet weather until next year, when me may see fungus,” said Greg Umlauf, a member of the family that runs Pine Brook Hollow Tree Farm and Pumpkin Patch at 4301 East Macungie Road in Emmaus.

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“But few people realized we were having a drought in May to June, during the trees’ main growth period. When we needed the water, it wasn’t around. You can see trees grow a foot in that time period, but not this year. It was too dry.’’

Growers say there are two bad things for fir trees -- too much moisture and not enough moisture. So some customers may pay more for Christmas trees this year.

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But not at two of the better-known, chop-your-own tree farms in Emmaus.

Pine Brook Hollow, which has 15 acres of trees, offers trees from a tabletop variety to large enough to fill a big living room. Prices range from $40 to $60 for the larger ones, Umlauf said.

“It depends on the species and size,” he said. “We offer mostly evergreens, Douglas firs.“

At Tranquility Tree Farm at 5563 Acorn Drive in Emmaus, another popular shopping spot for Christmas tree cutting, the prices were also stable.

A customer can expect to spend $37 to $100 for firs ranging from 6 feet to 10 feet tall, according to a message on the farm‘s phone. That’s about the same as a year ago.

Tranquility, owned by the Weber family since 1983, farms about 12,000 trees on 15 acres.

Pennsylvania’s 1,200 Christmas tree farms will sell 1.1 million trees, ranking it 4th in the country, according to the Pennsylvania Christmas Tree Growers Association.

Perhaps the state’s growers were most proud of a 74-foot Norway spruce grown in Mifflinville, Columbia Counnty, which was lifted and lighted with 30,000 LED bulbs at Rockefeller Center in New York on Nov. 30.

Umlauf did have some advice to all those people who come out to the farms to cut down trees by themselves.

“In the past, many people get their tree home and then have a hard time keeping if from falling over,” said Umlauf, who said his family has been running the Emmaus farm since the 1960s.

“What the people need is one of those pin tree stands. We drill the hole in the bottom and the tree will stand up straight in the stand. One of those devices is worth the investment. We call it ‘the marriage saver!’ ”

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