HARRISBURG, Pa. — “What’s been the hardest is.. it takes 7 to 10 years to grow a harvestable Christmas tree," said Angie Myers, the Owner of Blue Mountain farms.
Blue Mountain farms in Harrisburg is feeling the impact of the nationwide shortage.
“In order to have a fair inventory 10 years from now, you need to plan for that 10 years ago. 10 years ago a lot of people were doing more of the artificial trees and things, and there were more environmental issues, droughts and other things that cost less planting say 10 years ago, and we’re seeing the effect of that now, but nobody could've had anticipated the desire for where we’re at now either," said Myers.
Last year, they saw a spike of people interested in having real Christmas trees in their homes.
This year they’re expecting the same boom.
“With Covid-19, you know, people wanted to do something outside with their families, so last year it was like a boom in cut your own Christmas trees, and going and picking live trees," said Ashley Bishop, the Owner of Blue Mountain farm.
Some of the issues they face include having enough workers.
“A lot of us are all facing the same hurdles and challenges...shortages of help... additional workers, people wanting to come out and help - you know, it’s hard," said Myers.
Another issue they are dealing with? Many Christmas tree farms are closing.
“We’re a tree farm, but now we’re trying to sustain the customer base for not only our farm, but other tree farms that closed or other tree farms that are also suffering this shortage of trees," said Bishop.
Blue Mountain farms will be opening next week. They say they will have about 1,000 sellable Christmas trees this year.