Posted on 11/25/2023 7:29:19 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located.
This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.
It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table Recipes, Preserving, Good Living - there is no telling where it will go - and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us! Send a Private Message to Diana in Wisconsin if you'd like to be added to our New & Improved Ping List.
NOTE: This is a once a week Ping List. We DO post to the thread during the week. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest to Gardeners are welcomed any time!
The Ultimate Guide to Christmas Trees
The Hunt
Choose a healthy tree by feeling the branches. Needles should be pliable and stay in place when touched. At the tree lot, ask for a fresh cut on the trunk to help the tree take in more water. And get netting for the trip home.
The Drive
Position the top of the tree over the back of your car so the branches don’t meet air resistance and break as you drive. If you weren’t able to get netting, wrap your tree tightly in a blanket or tarp before securing it.
The Setup
Put the tree in a stand large enough for its height (check the label) and with an adequate reservoir for water. Place it away from floor vents and radiators, which can make the tree dry out.
Water and Care
Make sure the bottom of the trunk is submerged in water at all times, even when the tree starts drinking less. Trees will usually guzzle water the first few days and then slow down. Check the water level regularly, for the whole season.
The Cleanup
When the tree starts dropping a lot of needles, it’s time to take it down. Use a tree bag — basically an oversized garbage bag — for quicker cleanup. Christmas trees are biodegradable, and many communities offer free pickup and recycling. If yours doesn’t, look for an organization that will turn your tree into mulch or wood chips. Some goat farms will even take trees as a treat for the animals!
Take Your Pick:
Balsam Fir
Long-lasting needles with a sweet, woodsy scent make this one of the most beloved Christmas trees, especially in the Northeast.
Colorado Blue Spruce
It’s famous for its silvery blue hue, but this pick has other perks, too, like stiff branches that can hold lots of ornaments. Plus, it sheds the least of all the spruces.
Douglas Fir
Since the 1920s, this Pacific Northwest native has been a sought-after Christmas tree nationwide. Dense branches and soft needles make it a favorite.
Eastern White Pine
Choose this tree if you have allergies: It’s less fragrant than other trees. Just keep in mind the branches are not the best for holding heavy ornaments.
Fraser Fir
Few trees are as picture-perfect as this one. It typically has a uniform shape, upturned branches and silvery tinged needles.
Scotch Pine
This hardy tree has a vibrant green color and hangs on to its needles even as it starts drying out — which means easy cleanup at the end of the season!
White Spruce
Similar to its relative the blue spruce, this one has lean, bluish green needles that are on the softer side. The stiff branches can stand up to ornament overload.
Concolor Fir
Extra-long needles, especially for a fir, and a citrusy fragrance make this tree special. Its needles have a white tint, hence its other common name: white fir.
Christmas Tree Slideshow at link: https://www.hgtv.com/lifestyle/holidays/the-ultimate-guide-to-christmas-trees-pictures
Quick aside: How are crops proving down there? Jeez, we had 6 weeks with no rain and just a piddling before and after until just about harvest time. But yields are normal. No one can believe it, but the proof is in the bins. Local elevator has bunkers filled and heaped like golden mountains, and then some piles growing on the ground. We are down to the last 25 acres of corn to combine. Unbelievable situation. Corn and beans. Hay pretty good, too, for that matter. Happy head scratcher.
Good Morning! :-)
How to Start a Christmas Tree Farm for Profit
The spirit of the season can start right on your Christmas tree farm. Here’s what you need to know about starting and maintaining the business.
Every year, people across the nation purchase Christmas trees for their holiday celebrations, and while artificial trees are popular these days, there is always a demand for real trees that provide the scent, ambiance and one-of-a-kind appearance that artificial trees just can’t equal. While large-scale Christmas tree farms satisfy some of this demand, perhaps your farm has the potential to fill a local demand.
Let’s say that you have a few acres—even slightly rocky and uneven ones that aren’t ideal for keeping livestock or growing crops, such as corn or potatoes. Why not embrace the nature of the field and use it to grow Christmas trees?
Before you dig in, though, the obvious question is this: Can Christmas-tree farming be a profitable endeavor for a small-scale hobby farm with little space to spare? Let’s explore what’s involved and find out.
Be Aware: It Takes Time
Christmas trees—unlike most crops—take much longer than a single season to reach maturity. “Christmas trees can take eight to 10 years from planting until harvest,” says Tom Harbinson, facilities & hospitality manager of the Jones Family Farms and Winery in Shelton, Conn. “That is a long-term commitment to the crop that a farmer should be aware of going into it.”
Historically, farmers often chose imperfect fields for growing Christmas trees, but if you want to give your trees the best start in life, choose a field with well-drained soil. Christmas trees won’t grow well in wet conditions. And though it’s easy to think that the trees will simply grow themselves without any maintenance, that isn’t the case.
“It is a crop that does still need care, such as pruning and shaping—making sure a single leader points upward to eventually hold a star or angel for a family’s tradition—as well as being aware of diseases that can attack and diminish a tree,” Harbinson says. Each tree must be sheared every summer once they have reached 3 years of age and roughly 5 feet in height to ensure that the branches grow thickly and form a beautiful Christmas tree shape.
It can also be tricky to establish the trees during the early years of their life, when they are vulnerable and require careful watering and weeding care. “There can be challenges in the early seedling stages regarding irrigation of the crop, particularly with drought that many areas of the country are facing,” Harbinson says.
There’s a very small window of time when the harvest of Christmas trees can be profitable, and farmers should keep this in mind. “Nobody is buying Christmas trees in July, so beware that although the activity of caring for the crop can be year-round, the harvest is obviously a seasonal one and return of revenue for your input creates craters and valleys over a span of time,” Harbinson says.
Choose the Right Evergreens
Obviously, not every tree will work as a Christmas tree. There’s a reason why broad-leafed deciduous trees aren’t used for Christmas celebrations: They drop their leaves in the fall and dry out quickly when cut. Even a tree cut on Christmas Eve might be shriveled and brown by Christmas morning.
As a result, the needle-leaved coniferous trees—which hold their beautiful appearance for much longer after being cut—are the ideal choice for Christmas trees, though some members of this family are more popular than others. Fir trees are among the most desirable species to use as Christmas trees, with Douglas fir being particularly ideal for beginners to grow. Spruce trees, such as blue spruce and white spruce, are also common. For a completely different look, pines such as Scotch pine or white pine can be grown, although you might find that there isn’t as much demand for these less traditional types of Christmas trees.
Turn a Profit
Continues at link: https://www.hobbyfarms.com/start-a-christmas-tree-farm/
SW Wisconsin is STILL in drought conditions and we had great production this season, too...with NO irrigation.
I asked Beau about it and he said that so many corn and soybean varieties now have great drought tolerance, so that’s why yields are still up even in very dry years.
My own garden benefited from us having a drought season. I will ALWAYS take a dry season over a wet season. :)
Yes, it is the new hybrids. I hesitated to say that here because of many’s affection for heirlooms.
It was all I could do to keep the flowers and trees and new seeding in the lawn alive. I was dumb enough to spray the vigorous oxalis patches in the stressed lawn and now I’ll have new seeding again next year. Lord, I hate maneuvering hoses.
Today, as per TRADITION, I am making two hanging baskets for my kitchen porch filled with various evergreens, red twig dogwood, Viburnum berries, and whatever else I find around The Manse. ;)
Should be easy pickings this season as we’ve had no snow yet. Yay!
I will re-used the decorative metal lined baskets I used for Summer flowers - which have now gone to the compost pile.
Re: Christmas Tree Farming. In 2012 we planted 400 Black Hills Spruce in an area set aside for wildlife on our farm. It was a drought year, but we managed to water and keep 200 of them alive. In another 10 years, we’ll be ready to open, LOL!
(Nah - we’ll leave it for wildlife. Hunting land around here rents for more than we could ever get selling the trees.)
Good morning Diana, thanks for the new Gardening thread!
9 Plants to Forage For Natural Christmas Decorations
https://www.ruralsprout.com/forage-natural-christmas-decorations/
20 Creative Ways To Use Fresh Evergreen In Your Christmas Decorating
https://www.diyncrafts.com/33096/decor/20-creative-ways-use-fresh-evergreen-christmas-decorating
19 DIY Evergreen Christmas Decorations To Try
https://www.shelterness.com/diy-evergreen-christmas-decor/
(Note: There is some ‘overlap’ on ideas at the sites I looked at.)
Warm weather still here in SoCal, 75-80 so we are enjoying sitting outside.
Here is a late (or early) blooming iris, I think it's got the seasons mixed up:
Also putting out Christmas yard decor:
I’ve worked for Heirloom and Commercial seed houses. I grow whatever varieties perform the best for me. :)
We have a million pine cones & gumballs. We also have the red cedars with blue berries (I love the blue), Holly trees, nandinas with red berries & the woods have a lot of ‘running cedar’*. All make beautiful natural wreaths.
One of my dearest friends, a Navy vet, died hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. It took a year to find him & it was a crazy similar circumstance of someone else getting lost (but they were rescued while he was not) that led to the discovery of his remains & recovery. He is in a Veteran’s cemetery about an hour away. For about the first 5 years after he ‘came home’, I made him a Christmas wreath from the natural materials on our place. Then we had a massive snow storm that kept me from going & something else came up the next year and the years have gone by .... I haven’t been to see him in several years. He’s been on my mind lately, so I need a visit ... if not a wreath, maybe a bouquet of berries & greens.
*Diphasiastrum digitatum is known as groundcedar, running cedar or crowsfoot, along with other members of its genus, but the common name fan clubmoss can be used to refer to it specifically. It is the most common species of Diphasiastrum in North America. It is a type of plant known as a clubmoss, which is within one of the three main divisions of living vascular plants.
I love the ‘don’t kiss me’ cat & dog! :)
Found out the hard way that our son is allergic to Christmas trees. He’d been around evergreens outdoors with no issue so maybe it’s something they spray on Christmas trees to keep them green longer. I know when we figured out the source of his face swelling to the point of his eyes nearly closing up I tossed the tree outside and it stayed green for months, in Florida. It was in the shade but still...
Within a day or two of tossing the tree out, he was fine.
We swapped to fake trees after that of course.
Yet another Pollard case of; See? This is why we can’t have nice things
https://www.growforagecookferment.com/how-to-make-infused-winter-gin/
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.