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Austrian, in that order, trailed by white—now outsell the firs and spruces. Thus one of the first things to do before you go into Christmas trees is to check your regional markets and learn which kinds to plant. Besides salability, there are differences too in growth rates, care, and price. Douglas fir takes ten to fourteen years to reach six feet but fetches about $2.50 per tree at that size, on the stump. Norway and white spruce bring only half as much but reach market size two to four years sooner. Scotch pine, where it is salable, is in the $1.25 bracket for trees that take only six to eight years to grow, but the pines are prey to sawfly and pine-shoot moth and require watchful spraying. The spruces' enemies are aphids, weevils, and mites, not quite so destructive. Of them all, the fir is hardiest as to climate and parasites. All types need some pruning or shearing to perfect their shapes. |
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