Grower says no to buyers until Black Friday
When is an evergreen not an evergreen?
Right around Christmas, if you’re one of those holiday lovers who buys a tree in early November and expects it to keep its color and needles through the season.
Not everyone buys a tree that early, of course, but the owner of Unangst Tree Farms in East Allen Township says some people are in the market for them as soon as the end of October, before Halloween candy has cleared the shelves.
Unangst, however, will sell no tree before its time. Which, this year, is Nov. 25, the day after Thanksgiving.
“We open Black Friday, no matter what the date,” said Roger Unangst, sixth-generation owner of the farm that has been in his family since the 1850s — it began as a grain and dairy operation — and has been a Christmas tree destination since 1984.
That policy, a sort of enforced patience, doesn’t seem to irritate anyone. A post about it on the Unangst Facebook page garnered more than 400 “likes” and “loves” and a couple of dozen good-natured comments.
Unangst is almost certainly the biggest and busiest Christmas tree seller in the Lehigh Valley, moving about 7,000 trees a year. His tree-care credentials are unimpeachable, so when he shares his wisdom with the customers who come to cut their own tree or buy a cut one, they are wise to listen.
October tree buyers — or would-be buyers, in Unangst’s case — usually have reasons for getting such a big jump on the season.
“What happens is people have family coming in from out of town who aren’t going to be back for Christmas,” Unangst said. “So people try to have Christmas early or have the tree for pictures.”
Legitimate reasons, perhaps, but the Unangst rule holds. Once cut, a tree only lasts four to six weeks even with the best care. So to get through Christmas and maybe New Year’s, they shouldn’t be cut more than a month ahead of time.
Besides, for good needle retention, an evergreen needs to go dormant before it’s cut. That doesn’t happen unless it experiences several nights of below-freezing temperatures.
“The studies show if they get three nights at 24 degrees, that will lock the needles in the best they’re going to be locked in,” Unangst said.
The economy of trees
Studies? Yes, there are many studies carried out in the — ahem — field of Christmas trees.
In 2021, for example, according to the National Christmas Tree Association in Colorado, consumers bought 20.98 million trees. That excludes fake trees, which have no place in this story.
Other tidbits:
■ The median price of trees was $69.50, which is useful to know if you are a natural horsetrader along the lines of Ralphie’s old man in “A Christmas Story.”
■ The average buyer was a 40-year-old homeowner with a household of more than three people, which isn’t, perhaps, quite as useful to know except as table talk at Christmas dinner.
■ Choose-and-cut farms like Unangst’s accounted for 26.8% of sales, second only to Walmart, Home Depot and other big chains, which sold 28.5%. The balance were sold by nurseries, nonprofit organizations and other groups.
Another Christmas tree trade group, the American Christmas Tree Association, said 75% of U.S. households, or about 94 million homes, put up real or artificial trees last year.
This year — despite supply chain disruptions, inflation and other Scroogelike wrinkles in the economy — “we expect to see robust consumer demand for artificial and live Christmas trees,” said Jami Warner, the group’s executive director.
Even so, “while there may be enough trees for everyone who wants one, the options may be more limited,” Warner said. “Our 2022 recommendation to consumers is straightforward. If you want a specific type, style or size of tree, artificial or live, find it early.”
Basic care and safety
Once you have a live tree, basic care is easy. First, get it in water within seven hours, or sap will ooze out of the cut base and harden into a scab.
After that, keep it well-watered. That takes more effort than you might think.
“A lot of people check it every three days. But sometimes those trees will drink a gallon and a half a day,” Unangst said. “If you only check every three days, well, it’s formed that scab again.”
You may need to consider a new tree stand, too, he said. Many older stands don’t hold much water.
Keep the tree at least 3 feet away from fireplaces, radiators, wood stoves — any heat source that could dry it out. That’s not just a matter of keeping the tree looking nice but preventing a fire.
Other safety tips: Never place lit candles on a tree, no matter how fetching it looks. Check bulbs for cracks or frayed wires before stringing them, and always turn the lights off before leaving the house.
Unangst’s selling season generally runs until Dec. 21 or so, though he had to close early last season. Other farms in the region had shortages and closed early, so the crowds migrated to Unangst’s and demand outstripped supply.
He expects to have enough trees to meet demand this year — “We’re sitting pretty good,” he said — and doesn’t want every tree buyer in the Valley to descend on the farm on Black Friday.
“We’re not going to run out of trees that first weekend,” he said. “My concern is that everybody who comes for a tree has fun, has a quality time. Don’t feel like you have to come the weekend of Black Friday.”