Christmas tree farm

[noyb72]

Hey guys,

I've poked around the chain saw forum for a bit now and am now branching out a little. I have some property on the Olympic peninsula that I am allowing Jeff county 4-H to use as a Christmas tree farm project. We are looking at about 1-2 acres for the kids.

I was wondering if you all believe this is a lucrative form of land use? The acreage is on my 17 acre plot and if it makes economic sence, and doesn't require extensive labor, I would consider making this a 4 acre or so lot. 1 - 1 1/2 acre for the kids and the rest as a business.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Ron

 

[BayouTree]

I have no personal experience with raising christmas trees, but I had a professor comment once that it is VERY labor intensive, and the profit margin is pretty small. Maybe there is money in a cut-your-own tree type operation. There are several of those around here.

 

[2FatGuys]

There are people near me that would argue about the profitability of Christmas tree farms. Here in NC, one of the top Christmas tree producing states, and the home of the "White House Christmas Tree" (again), there are thousands of acres set aside for this. I personally think that a lot of the decission is based on volume. A smaller farm may not have the margins of a larger one since some of the fixed costs can be spread out over a larger crop. Although, one of my brother's past students at NCSU put himself thourgh college on the profits he earned working his own trees on a small plot on weekends and holidays (a 4 hour drive each way).

 

[PB]

Hey guys,

I've poked around the chain saw forum for a bit now and am now branching out a little. I have some property on the Olympic peninsula that I am allowing Jeff county 4-H to use as a Christmas tree farm project. We are looking at about 1-2 acres for the kids.

I was wondering if you all believe this is a lucrative form of land use? The acreage is on my 17 acre plot and if it makes economic sence, and doesn't require extensive labor, I would consider making this a 4 acre or so lot. 1 - 1 1/2 acre for the kids and the rest as a business.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Ron

No experience either, but if you have a market you can make money. Trees in South Carolina go for $80.

 

[JUDGE1162]

It can be profitable, the question is how profitable the simply anser is see what trees are selling for around you there can be huge diffrences in price, I have some land in up state NY but live in NJ the price diffrence is amazing in NY $40 same tree in NJ is $100. It also depends on how long you are willing to wait to havest and the type of trees you plant, you can buy 1 or 2 year seedlings for $70/500 here in NY but if you want larger trees expect to pay $3 to $5 a tree for large 5 or 6 year transplants but they will have a much higher survial rate and be read for sale 4 to 5 years earlier.

The require extensive labor? Depends on the type of trees some tree require almost nothing other need to be trimed and shaped yearly

Depending on spacing expect to be able to plant between 700 and 900 trees per acre

 

[noyb72]

these will be yearling trees, probably almost all noble fir. Were working out the details now, thanks everyone.

Ron

 

[M.D. Vaden]

I can't vouch to "lucrative" or not, but I remember volunteering one time shaping the Christmas trees for the demonstation forest Magnus Tree Farm of the World Forestry Center - the farm was a woodland in Wilsonville, Oregon.

It was a refreshing experience, but it is work of course.