PERRY HALL, Md. — Our region's extended drought is impacting growers of all sorts, including the growers of your holiday tree.
"A lot of them are calling early this year, they want to cut the tree down early," said Paul Stiffler, the owner of Frostee Tree Farm.
Being a tree farmer takes a long view.
"We want people to cut them a little bit later, and that way they have a fresher tree and a happy Christmas then," Stiffler said.
Changing weather patterns are affecting the cost of doing business for Stiffler, who has owned the 25-acre farm since 2005, but he's been a Christmas tree farmer for a lot longer.
"This is actually a bagworm. And this is one of the things that can affect a tree, so you gotta keep monitoring this," said Stiffler.
Bagworms come and go, but he's seen more of them with more warmer days. It takes 7 to 8 years to grow a full Christmas tree, so a lot of environmental issues have to be kept at bay.
"It used to be these bagworms would come out once a year, now they can come out up to 3 times a year," Stiffler said.
Not only does he have to keep on top of those buggers of an issue, the drought means he's had to irrigate more often, driving costs up.
"More and more work involved in these trees. Each year, there's something else you have to do to them. And years ago, it was easy to grow a tree and it's just getting more and more difficult to do something like that," Stiffler expressed.
With this experience, Paul has some tips to make sure your fresh cut will stay beautiful all season long.
"The main thing is to put nice warm water in that stand as soon as you get it or even put it in a bucket of water until you do get it in that stand. And I have customers that follow those directions that have a nice fresh tree up in January," Stiffler explained.
Stiffler charges by the foot, giving customers options for how much they want to spend.
He sets his price each year, taking into account everything that's happened over the life of that tree.
He's seen his costs double in just the last five years. But like any business, it's dependent on what the market will bare.
"We keep monitoring the numbers, and once it gets to a point where we have to raise the prices just so high, and it's cost-prohibitive to do it, then we'll have to stop," said Stiffler.
But, as long as Paul can keep his balance, that won't happen too soon.
"I just like to see things grow," Stiffler expressed.
