As shortages squeeze Christmas tree industry, one Connecticut grower advises to buy early

Amid reports of nationwide supply chain issues and price increases on Christmas trees, Connecticut tree farms that grow their own trees aren't feeling the squeeze. However, wholesale suppliers who import their trees may be affected, according to Kathy Kogut, the executive director of the Connecticut Christmas Tree Growers Association.

Natural Christmas trees

“It’s going to be the people that do fundraisers, Boy Scouts, churches, civic organizations and people that sell trees out of a tree lot because they don’t have a tree farm,” Kogut said. “They can’t get them.”

Kogut, who also operates Kogut’s Hemlock Hill Tree Farm in Meriden with her husband Bill, said that while most of Connecticut’s tree farms are ready for the upcoming Christmas tree season, some will find difficulty in stocking up on supplemental wholesale trees that they bring in to round out their inventory. She estimates that 30 to 40 percent of the farms in the Connecticut Christmas Tree Growers Association will bring in the wholesale trees.

The volume of wholesale trees varies between farms. However, Kogut said she saw one farm bring in as many as 1,000 wholesale trees last year in order to meet the demand.

“If they oversold last year, they’ll be short this year,” Kogut added.

In terms of the supply chain issues occurring across the country, Kogut said that the only major thing that tree farms with their own trees are having a hard time getting are accoutrements and other decorations for their shops.

But whether buyers go to a cut-your-own tree farm or a wholesale lot, Kogut advises buying early this year.

“You’re going to find a Christmas tree in Connecticut somewhere because there are farms that have plenty of trees... but you may not find that the Christmas tree farm that you usually go to has an abundance of trees,” she said. “[They] may have to close early because they’re at capacity or they might not have the variety that you’re always used to getting.”

In some cases, Kogut sees some of the smaller tree farms closing sales after only a week of business due to the demand and limited supply. She reports that some of the farms in the association have already started to sell trees.

"Today, holiday shoppers aren’t seeing the surpluses of the 1990s and 2000s, as many farmers scaled back their operations and started planting fewer trees amid the Great Recession," the Huffington post reported, adding that it takes about 10 years to grow a tree.

Trees mainly affected by the shortage are wholesale balsam trees from the northern United States and Canada, and fraser firs from the south — mostly from North Carolina. In the south, freight transportation cost increases have made moving trees difficult. According to Kogut, 500 trees could be sent via freight transportation for $3,000 a few years ago. This year, that figure has climbed to $9,000.

In Canada, Kogut said that some tree farms are being bought up for their land. Additionally, many balsams were hurt by frost, further diminishing the supply coming from the north. A bad wet season has also caused some farms to “lose some of their inventory” due to tree diseases like Phytophthora ramorum, which is a root rot disease.

As for the cost of live trees, Kogut said that trees from tree farms have stayed relatively at the same price, only increasing 3 percent yearly due to “cost of living.” Other nominal price increases are due to increases in the prices of items used for tree growth such as chemical fertilizer.

Artificial Christmas trees

If you’re looking for an artificial tree instead, there is also a shortage of those.

The American Christmas Tree Association stated that this year will see “fewer artificial trees available for consumer purchase this season, and those that are available will come with a higher price tag.” This is due to ongoing supply chain issues as well as the increase in shipping costs for holiday goods.

Companies such as the National Tree Company have been forced to increase their prices on artificial trees and holiday decorations sold at Walmart and Target up to 25 percent more than last year, Chris Butler, CEO of the National Tree Company, told Fox News.

Home Depot, as of now, shows plenty of artificial trees in stock with prices online range from $150 to $6,809.

"The peak week for buying Christmas trees is around Thanksgiving time, and we think by that point the shelves might be quite empty,” Butler told Fox News. "We're suddenly scrambling to get containers along with every other importer of goods from China. Not only were we unable to get all of the containers that we wanted to get, but also the prices have gone up tenfold."

Kogut said approximately 25 to 30 million trees are sold in the United States yearly while 150,000 trees are sold solely in Connecticut every year.