With the jolly holiday right around the corner, the time for decorating is upon us, but Christmas tree farms like Scott’s Orchard & Nursery are facing hurdles.
“We got our first trailer load of Christmas trees yesterday,” said Woodland Scott, Scott’s Orchard & Nursery. “We were cut short by our grower by 150 trees,” he said.
With a nationwide shortage, Christmas tree vendors will have fewer trees available for sale this holiday season due to a double whammy of supply chain troubles and climate change.
What most may not know is that it takes seven to eight years to plant and get a fully grown Christmas tree, meaning these trees customers are buying this year were planted back in 2013-2014 and COVID exacerbated the problem.
Get Connecticut local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Connecticut newsletters.
“What happened was, last year it was a big, huge year for fresh cut Christmas trees. Basically because people were confined to their homes, they came out and bought fresh Christmas trees and many trees that were destined for this year were cut last year,” said Scott.
This year, consumers will potentially see a 25% price increase due to the hike in transportation costs.
“They are higher in prices for several reasons…the trucking industry the cost to get them here has gone up which has added a dollar a tree extra…the rest is basically supply and demand," said Scott.
