View Full Version : Christmas Tree Shortage
S.A. Boggs
12-02-2018, 02:43
Sone news reported a shortage in parts of the country and increased prices. I haven't priced trees locally and have seen only one place that has them for sale. What is going on in your area?
Sam
Roadkingtrax
12-02-2018, 02:47
They truck them in from Oregon, and other regions. Xmas tree permits have not been limited here for those looking to harvest their own.
Not sure we've even put one up the last couple years Lowe's has those 3 foot live trees for those looking to transplant.
not in that business any longer (used to sell them at the stores I managed)
and have a fake one at home
S.A. Boggs
12-02-2018, 03:59
44706
This is our tree this year, a little over 8' tall and about 5" at the bottom. Our tree holder, the largest that Wal-Mart carries, won't hold the tree upright. I had to tie to the wall to keep it from toppling over.
The lady who gave me Wolf's, wife's best friend, her husband has a Christmas Tree farm and we got our tree there. We took his 4x4 out to pick and cut our tree, our cost was $10.00. Gary wrapped the tree with a 4x8 tarp and we placed it into the back of the truck, man it was heavy and awkward bring it up the ramp. It was tough going for my daughter and I. Tomorrow will decorate the tree and have fun doing it.
Sam
Roadkingtrax
12-02-2018, 04:00
Looks like a good one. Free air freshener when you vacuum up the needles.
S.A. Boggs
12-02-2018, 04:28
It is the largest indoor tree that we have ever had in our 37 years together, never had the room.
Sam
barretcreek
12-02-2018, 04:51
Nice, Sam. Is that a Scotch Pine?
S.A. Boggs
12-02-2018, 05:12
Nice, Sam. Is that a Scotch Pine?
Yes, it is after we get it decorated will post more.
Sam
Clark Howard
12-03-2018, 07:38
In 2008-9-10, Christmas tree demand fell off the roof. Many producers and sellers were left with unsaleable trees. As a result, the producers were unable to plant replacement trees in the numbers needed. The result of those years is showing up in the scarcity of more desirable trees. Regards, Clark
JB White
12-04-2018, 05:05
Sam, in regards to tying the tree to the wall... You have lumber lying about. Make yourself something oversized you can screw the tree stand down to. A dadoed X from 1x stock, or a circular piece of plywood with radiused edges. Doesn't take long to do and you'll be ready for next year. Much more stable and forgiving around excited dogs and kids.
In my neck of the woods the winters are mild and short plus it is way too hot to grow the favorites of trees like the blue spruce, Frasier firs, scotch pines and Douglas firs. What does grow are white pines that are short needle and usually fill out full. There used to be tree farms everywhere, sometimes on just a couple of acres. Then, a blight or something came along and they all started developing bald spots on the East side. Most all the tree farms are gone now. The last live tree that we brought home from one of these places had been shook (by machine) to get rid of the loose needles and then wrapped. When we went to set it up a giant 4" grasshopper jumped off and my wife said that was it for the freshly cut. Now days the only place here to get the shipped in trees are Lowes, Home Depot and WalMart but they are wrapped so you can't tell what you are buying. Also, people being the idiots they are buy them out by early October or so. I guess they like stale, brown, fire hazard trees come Dec.25th. For us it became too much hassle so we just buy artificial trees now. If you miss the smell you can always place a small red cedar branch behind it.
Back in the 80s, the family was large and Paula insisted on trees that the piles of presents didn't dwarf. Ordinary stands would not stabilize these large trees without additional support. After Christmas one year I stopped at K-Mart to get a sub sandwich and they had a heavy duty 30" plastic stand on clearance for the price of an ordinary stand, not on sale. This stand securely held any Christmas tree that would fit in our house for many years.
When I was young my Father would use a thin strand of SS wire to attach the tree to the wall. The tree itself was set in a galvanized bucket full of wet sand to keep the tree (cut red cedar from our woods) fresh as long as possible.
When in high school my biology teacher had a fear of the classroom tree toppling over and hurting one on her students. These were old schools w/o a/c so the ceilings were high, perhaps 20'. The tree she had the janitor set up always went almost that high. The tree was always in the center of the room so she had him attach it to the ceiling. You won't find teachers that care that much or janitors that would do such a thing these days.
Vern Humphrey
12-04-2018, 04:10
The wife and I always head out with a chain saw and hunt for the perfect cedar tree. There's nothing like a Christmas tree cut on your own property!
I grew up in central Alaska. The spruce there were so stunted they looked just a little better than Charlie Brown's. My dad would drill holes in the trunk and insert extra branches. One year we set one up(I would snowshoe into the woods for these things) and in three days all the needles fell off. We went out and got another. None of this diminished the magic of Cristmas for my brother and me. I've got pictures. Now I see rows of trees that are as perfect as N. Korean parades.
JB White
12-04-2018, 06:40
The spruce there were so stunted...
Silly Rabbi, that's a Hanukkah bush!
The wife and I always head out with a chain saw and hunt for the perfect cedar tree. There's nothing like a Christmas tree cut on your own property!
my sister in law's first husband insisted on a cut cedar,
so they would ride around and find one (he owned a few properties, and there are always roadside cedars in this area)
got a nice one , put it up, decorated, and lo and behold, a praying mantis or 10 decided to lay eggsacks in that tree,
after a couple days in a warm house, they had a house full of baby praying mantis,,,
funny to chat about,, Sister in law did not find it funny then
i'd rather cut some grass and wood, put it together with some gums and call it a xmas tree, i am not spending my hard earned Money on some stupid Christmas tradition that can be ignore.
i'd rather cut some grass and wood, put it together with some gums and call it a xmas tree, i am not spending my hard earned Money on some stupid Christmas tradition that can be ignore.
To each their own. My wife and I are both retired, the kids are grown and have their own lives and don't want much to do with us anymore, we have no grandkids, we simply buy things throughout the year if and when we need or want it so come Christmas time there isn't much gift exchanging going on but putting up a tree for us keeps the tradition alive along with the memories of us and our kids enjoying and looking forward to the season. You don't have to decorate the yard or outside of your house but come Christmas morning a house w/o a tree is just another day.
To each their own. My wife and I are both retired, the kids are grown and have their own lives and don't want much to do with us anymore, we have no grandkids, we simply buy things throughout the year if and when we need or want it so come Christmas time there isn't much gift exchanging going on but putting up a tree for us keeps the tradition alive along with the memories of us and our kids enjoying and looking forward to the season. You don't have to decorate the yard or outside of your house but come Christmas morning a house w/o a tree is just another day.
True, its Very love to decorate that tree and all the lights, but the Increase in Price of the Christmas tree just got me off, i'm not spending $500 on a tree. There're starving kids out there that i could help with that Money and i think that's what the Season should be all about, Rmembering that Love and sacrifice goes beyond gifting and Merriment.
S.A. Boggs
12-06-2018, 03:44
True, its Very love to decorate that tree and all the lights, but the Increase in Price of the Christmas tree just got me off, i'm not spending $500 on a tree. There're starving kids out there that i could help with that Money and i think that's what the Season should be all about, Rmembering that Love and sacrifice goes beyond gifting and Merriment.
@ last someone remembering the reason for the season is the Birth of Jesus, the guy with the beard is just advertisement!:icon_e_surprised::banana100::hello:
Sam
Roadkingtrax
12-06-2018, 05:01
Who doesn't enjoy the Feast of Winter Solstice?
We bought our last live Christmas tree probably 25 years ago. It was a medium sized spruce of some sort that I bought a few weeks before Christmas and placed the cut trunk in a 5 gallon bucket full of water. I continued watering it through the holiday. After the holidays while I hauled it to the curb for trash pick-up, I was amazed to see new growth forming on the tips of the branches. The tree was still alive.
Major Tom
12-06-2018, 06:02
I see no reason to 'kill' a living tree for a couple weeks of enjoyment! With artificial trees, there are scads of them available. And you can use them year after year and decorate them anyway you want. After the season is over, they pack up in original boxes making storage easy.
With artificial trees, there are scads of them available. And you can use them year after year and decorate them anyway you want. After the season is over, they pack up in original boxes making storage easy.
That's what we do. These days they are very lifelike looking and my wife has a knack for finding a nice $500-$700 tree marked down to <$200 after the season is over. We usually buy the pre-lite trees but are getting away from that since the lights are the only things that wear out. Like you said, they last many years and don't take long to pay for themselves over the cost of a cut tree.
the guy with the beard is just advertisement!
I always wondered about him, an old obese man with a red nose and to him everything is funny. I guess he was patterned from the town drunk at the time.
Think how confusing it is for kids too. They're told they can not see him on Christmas eve but it's OK too see him in department stores and in parades. Then, every one of them look different. In times past it wasn't unusual to see a dozen of them on the same street ringing a bell for the Salvation Army but yet there's only suppose to be one. My son realized at about the age of 7 that Santa Claus wasn't real when we went to the local Barnes and Nobel book store and he saw that Santa Claus books were in the fiction isle. I thought that was pretty good. At that age I wouldn't have had a clue as to what fiction meant. I guess no matter how young we are we know he isn't real, we just go along with it because we want it to be real.
S.A. Boggs
12-06-2018, 07:05
A tree is a tree, on our place everything gets recycled. The ash from the stove[s] goes onto the various parts of the ground. I have a shredder that grinds up vegetation for the garden as well.
Sam
Then there's this.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/rome-apos-mangled-apos-spezzacchio-162930858.html
JB White
12-06-2018, 09:19
To be fair they are still building the tree. Wait a few more days until the lighting and see what it looks like. For now the media and social networking is stirring controversy again over last years chintzy display. Everybody need something to b!tch about.
Chicago's tree is built like that at times. A tree atop a pole and smaller trees tied to it until it fills out. Once completed it doesn't look so bad.
Our tax dollars at work and about the only truly nice thing we get all year:
http://holeinthedonut.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Illinois-Chicago-downtown-street-scene-Christmas.jpg
Here is Indianapolis' version of a Christmas tree. Indianapolis's traditional lighting of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument.
https://www.tripsavvy.com/thmb/GMB-eYuJx42yaqATt-S2xct6qQ0=/950x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/1280px-Indy_Photo_Coach_-_Indianapolis_monument_circle_30574944481-5977572cb501e8001197b13e.jpg
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/85143a27a88c189e67f5c6fcb99727b960fe54b9/c=0-1-2000-1505/local/-/media/2017/11/27/INGroup/Indianapolis/636473685752085968-uscpcent02-6xpfm5iwb2ppdlbbiin-original.jpg?width=520&height=390&fit=crop
Major Tom
12-06-2018, 11:37
GWP, that is outstanding! Best I'v ever seen!
I always wondered about him, an old obese man with a red nose and to him everything is funny. I guess he was patterned from the town drunk at the time.
Think how confusing it is for kids too. They're told they can not see him on Christmas eve but it's OK too see him in department stores and in parades. Then, every one of them look different. In times past it wasn't unusual to see a dozen of them on the same street ringing a bell for the Salvation Army but yet there's only suppose to be one. My son realized at about the age of 7 that Santa Claus wasn't real when we went to the local Barnes and Nobel book store and he saw that Santa Claus books were in the fiction isle. I thought that was pretty good. At that age I wouldn't have had a clue as to what fiction meant. I guess no matter how young we are we know he isn't real, we just go along with it because we want it to be real.
Kids do know something doesn't seem right about Santa but they love the fairy tales and gifting so they go along with it, fat fat man carries you on his lap and tells you' "you're a special boy" who doesn't want that as a kid....But parents do buy into it and that's way it has becomes a commercial weapon.
fat fat man carries you on his lap and tells you' "you're a special boy" who doesn't want that as a kid.
Accidental humor here perhaps. Not something I wanted, but I was attuned to "stranger danger".
Roadkingtrax
12-06-2018, 04:48
Accidental humor here perhaps. Not something I wanted, but I was attuned to "stranger danger".
This new guy is laying in on kinda thick. :)
JB White
12-07-2018, 05:32
re: Rome's Christmas tree. This year's tree (2018) doesn't really look as bad as last year's did. It will be lighted this evening, so perhaps we will get to see it in all its glory instead of seeing pics of last year's debacle as today's news.
https://www.wantedinrome.com/i/preview/storage/uploads/2018/11/vatican-christmas-tree-rome-2018.jpeg
JB White
12-07-2018, 10:10
Festivus!
Yup. It surprised me back when the Pope allowed a pagan tradition to be displayed outside the Basilica. I reckon the nativity scene at the tree neutralizes all that? Doesn't matter to me one way or the other. I'm a Lutheran! :)
Tree or not, people have lost the trust they once had for the church. They have changed alot
Tree or not, people have lost the trust they once had for the church. They have changed alot
Incomplete sentence. The people have changed? The churches have changed?
For years we would go and cut a tree down every year after my dad passed away i put up 3 M1 Garands hooked together and put lights and bulbs on them my kids are grown up and gone so no live tree
For years we would go and cut a tree down every year after my dad passed away i put up 3 M1 Garands hooked together and put lights and bulbs on them my kids are grown up and gone so no live tree
You can never go back. We don't realize the memories we make as they occur. They seem so routine and insignificant at the time but we remember them the rest of our lives. I remember the Garand Christmas tree picture you sent in last year.
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