Starting a small acreage Christmas tree farm. Things to consider before planting.
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- Опубликовано: 7 янв 2022
- Many people want to start a Christmas tree farm. They tend to think it is just growing trees. There are many things to consider when starting your farm, some of which don't involve trees. Things you need to think about include: parking, access roads on farm, tree spacing, tree varieties, equipment needed, long term labor. We try to share things we have learned in the last 20 years here at East Fork Christmas trees in Ridgefield WA. @FlanaganHomestead @East Fork Christmas Trees
#Christmas tree farming 
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As a dairy farmer, I loved your comment that farmers don't make money they buy more equipment. As always great videos.
That's business you can't claim much of a profit or else you lose your money in taxes much like McDonald's restaurant claim no more than 24,000 profit and the rest of the money feeds the corporate monster that's created spend your money on building your business
Wow, I started literally applauding when you brought up the idea of passing out flyers not for a customer discount but instead money given to the org. Thats is genius. For all the reasons you mentioned. Im surely not surprised that youre making a name and buisness for yourself. Thanks for the info
(I dont even own land yet and this was still an interesting video. You're a great teacher and rolemodel. Keep it up man)!
Thank you for kind words.
Thank you sr my respects for making the video under the rain 🙏
11/30/22 Wednesday 07:14
Thanks Mr. Flanagan!
👋🏼🍓👍🏼Strawberryville Farm 🍓🌲
What are really great video. Very comprehensive and gave me a good understanding of what you would even need to consider before starting
I have Arbor vitae Trees in my backyard You got to be careful with chemicals You don't want weeds but yet you don't want to kill your trees.
We have 14.35 acres I would love to plant a Christmas 🎄⛄ tree farm on our property in the far North of Aroostook county Maine
What great content and great informative answers. I subscribed. I’m happy for you and your family working the land and providing a beautiful service to the community.
Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for joining
I never thought about the difference in seed sources. This was an excellent video. Thank you for sharing your expertise!
Yes, seed source is important. We learned the hard way. The nursery I buy from now is very good about suppling trees that were grown with the intent of Christmas trees and not timber
Amazing! This is so helpful as we prepare to put our first trees in the ground this spring! Thanks again
Glad I could help. Hope you have great success. Tree farming can be great fun, profitable and fatiguing all at the same time.
Good info I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience
I understand that dealing with a large number of dead Christmas trees can be overwhelming and disposing of them properly is important. However, burning the trees may not be the best solution, especially if it is done without proper safety precautions and adherence to local regulations.
I understand and we follow the local brush burning guidelines, including burn bans in dry season.
Great insight
great video 👍
3:40 :) (the glass only)
That is actually the neighbors bin not mine. 😃 I get your reaction.
Very good video, one other thing you need for a Christmas tree farm is time, I have a 20 acre Christmas tree farm and do the growing myself, I have a full time job and spend the rest of my time in the trees, always something to do. My farm is Tim”s trees in Limerick,Pa. I enjoy watching your videos and learning how others do things.
Your comments are so true. Your farm is about twice the acreage of mine but mine can still consume hours. I hope you have great success on your farm. What are the best selling trees you have in that area?
@@FlanaganHomestead
Grow mostly Douglas fir and some Concolor fir, white and Norway spruce on wetter areas. Grow everything on raised beds and it definitely helps the trees do better. Sell as much as I can grow.
@@timlandis2320 what size raised beds do you use? Is it multiple trees per bed or individual?
@@jaquavious1776 I use a levy plow to make my raised beds , the finished bed is about 15-18 inches tall, plant on row down the center every 5 foot. Rows are about 7 feet apart to accommodate sprayers and mower and makes it nice for cut your own customers. I also make a 6 inch raised bed about 30 inches across the top with vegetable raised bed machine, no plastic, just trickle irrigation, I buy plugs from a greenhouse and grow for 2 years then dig and transplant to larger raised beds.
Thank you for the advice! My father didn’t leave me money when he passed away but he did leave me 20 acres in the farm program so I’ve been researching ways to make money from it.
Thank you for this video. We're looking at purchasing an established Christmas tree farm and are very naive. We don't want pesticides and herbicides on our land due to the desire to grow organic food on our farm. The reality of pests and weeds and the need to spray is disappointing but such valuable insight. I don't imagine sheep for weeds and lady bugs for aphids would suffice. lol (Boy do we have a lot to learn! lol) Sounds like this is the wrong property for us.
There are many tree farmers that try to go without herbicide. Very hard to establish young trees that way, once they get some height and a good root system they can do well. We tried no herbicide for a couple years. The loss of trees and the relentless hours of mechanical/physical control of weeds drove us away. I applaud those that can make it with no, or less chemicals.
@@FlanaganHomesteadThank you so much for your prompt reply! What about pesticides? We're located in southern Ontario Canada where the winters can be harsh. Would this help with reducing the aphid population at all or are they such a prevalent pest that fogging them is the only way?
The lady bugs are there because of the aphids. This year aphids and lady bugs, next year no aphids just Lady bugs.. The sheep will happily eat and destroy the trees. Regenerative Agriculture is a alternative to present day farming. And hopefully the future of agriculture. Think of the farm as a garden. Gabe Brown can give you some insight. Rob’s videos are great.
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I recognze this farm. Ae you on Bjur rd? I deliver the newspapers down there,
Hello neighbor. That would be us.
I am having trouble finding a supplier for Christmas Trees. I want to buy enough trees for 5 acres. I need to know who to call to place an order and when the best time to get an order in is . Thank you so very much for your help! It is so appreciated!
Rob, great videos. I'm starting my farm this year and have two questions: Do you ever dip your bare root trees before planting? And do you recommend tilling the whole row of the tree line or just plant them in the grass? Thanks.
Thanks for compliment. We don’t dip our plugs because we would lose some of the soil it is packed on. We have but not always dipped our are root stock in root stimulator. Probably best to do it. If you can kill grass and till up the row that is the best conditions for your young trees.
Do you recommend paying to send a soil test to the labs and having them tell you how much lime your soil needs. Or would an online testing kit work ok? And figuring it out with trial and error
A soil sample is important. The company I buy my fertilizer, lime and herbicide from will come out and do a free sample for me with the understanding that I am buying what I need from them.
Hi! This has been on my heart awhile. I have 30 acres in north western Iowa. Access to unlimited water, good drainage. Fabulous content. I'll go check out all the other videos you have. Talk about a goldmine of info!
Thanks for the kind words. Unlimited water is a goldmine these days.
I am looking at getting into Christmas trees. With the spacing do you mow in between the trees during the summer? Looking at getting some equipment and want to make sure I am looking at a tractor that’s appropriate.
Yes we mow. If you don’t want to space your rows to wide the narrower the wheel base the better
@@FlanaganHomestead 4ft/ 1200mm is the general minimum spacing. this allows for tree growth and a mower to pass in between. We're planting at 1300mm because we have a larger mower and it allows for some error margin when planting. Currently planting 1200 2+1 nords. Your videos are very good!
@@atomlinsonson8788 thanks for compliment and thanks for sharing what you do. We can all learn from each other.
What is the minimum amount of acres you recommend to start a Christmas tree farm seems like a great way to get my kids involved and hopefully they will have sentimental attachments and keep it going for generations
There is no size too small depending on what your goals are. I started off with just 100 trees and just gave them to friends and family. If you want a ucut open to the public, to make it worth standing out there on weekends you should have probably a minimum of two acres of trees spread over a 7 year lifespan. That will give you at least a couple hundred a year to sell
@@FlanaganHomestead thank you for your reply I have 1.42 acres to work with but sad part is right down the middle there is a pipeline right of way lol. It's still worth looking into in my opinion
@@danielrios6396 can you plant over the pipeline as long as the trees don’t go over a certain height
I am looking into growing a small crop for my family's personal trees, each Christmas. A main concern of mine is deer damage. Any advice on that topic?
That is a struggle. My grandpa always said “you have to plant a percentage for the deer”. Frustrating. Dogs seem to be the best consistent remedy.
Hi Rob,
Last year we planted our first set of Nobles (3-1’s) I was told not to fertilize but several are starting to turn yellow. I’m going to have my soil tested, but was wondering if you have any suggestions? Thank you.
Nobles area notoriously weak the first year you will probably lose a few. First year trees we don’t use our regular fertilizer. We put down 16-16-16 very sparingly. Just a pinch between the thumb and two fingers.
Thanks Rob! Appreciate the advice.
Hi awesome video, thanks.
Do you have yo wait 8 years after planting to sell a tree or do you sell little trees each Christmas?
You can sell younger trees earlier since they are smaller. We may do that again as my inventory gets big again. Until then we only sell full size trees for full price. There is a good market for table too trees.
@Flanagan Homestead ok thank you. In my area in Australia they sell radiata pine Christmas trees I think. I love the idea, but just wondering how you make money between seasons. I'm thinking a mixed farming approach, like Christmas trees + flower farming + Cafe + petting zoo might be a good approach. Your farm looks like a great set-up.
@@ezra-and-bella Thank you for compliments. We experimented with grow pumpkins between rows. That worked well. We sometimes have weddings on the tree farm. Big headache but good money.
Where can I buy seedlings?
Are grand firs your main choice of tree? We are getting very close to planting on 10 acres.
No, grand firs are popular trees out here but Nobles and Nordmann come first. Then we like a large selection of Grands.
@@FlanaganHomestead thank you
Why is it I haven't heard of planting clover instead of grass in the rows? Wouldn't it be less maintenance and provide nitrogen?
We have considered that and some farms do it. But I have not done it myself.
@@FlanaganHomestead Thanks for the reply.
May i ask where do you buy trees? Are they from seed? My wife n i are 100 percent going to start a xmas tree farm
Where are you located. I buy most of my seedlings from Brooks tree farm near Salem Oregon. Typically get 2 or 3 year olds. There are other nurseries that can be used if they don’t have all of what I want.
Nw ohio
@@larryduvall5971 I would look for a nursery out there. Although I have known the nurseries out here to ship across country if needed
Do you know anyone that travels to plant Christmas trees? Looking to plant 1k trees near Astoria oregon.
We recently quit planting our own and have a three man crew come and plant them. They may be willing to come that far if the price was right. Their background is reforestation so we have to coach them to be a little more particular in the planting but we are happy enough with them that we are having them back this weekend. They have already done 1500 nobles for us this year. 700 Noordman coming this weekend.
The guys that planted mine yesterday said they would travel to Astoria to plant with a little travel fee. Video coming out tomorrow on our planting process this year and how much I paid them.
How long does a 6, 8, and 10 foot tree take to grow?
There are different variables that change the answer but a noble fir normally takes us 8 years to get to 7-8 foot range. They grow faster at that point. So just add or take off a year for various sizes. Grand firs are typically a year faster and Douglas firs another year faster.
@Flanagan Homestead
So, to make money off of this, or be profitable, we would need at least 10ac? 8 yrs to see a return devided into revenue from harvest. I tried doing math for 5 acres, and it came down to $45-$60k per year. That's not accounting any costs incurred during the 8 years.
How many acres do you have? I get a feeling you have much more than 5 or 10.
@@GerardoElJerry101 we started with 5 acres and have added a couple more to get to about 7. No matter what acreage you have you will be investing time and money for about 7 years. After that if you are doing a ucut and replanting you will start earning money back. We were still in an overall deficit until about year 10. Now debts are paid a profit margin is up. Getting through the first 7 years to get to harvest is hard but is worth it.