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Drought Limiting Number Of Christmas Trees At Central Texas Tree Farms


We haven't even finished with Thanksgiving and Central Texas Christmas tree farms are already up and running. But will there be enough to go around?

Last year, the drought prevented Evergreen Farms from selling any trees from their field. Instead they imported trees from Washington state and North Carolina, but this year things have changed.  “After two years of drought, last year we made a decision that we weren’t going to cut any trees in the field and we just brought in a lot more trees to keep people happy, because of that decision, this year we’ll have some trees to cut again,” says owner Michael Walterscheidt.

“Everything was so different because of the drought, but yeah, we’re glad that its back, we can pick and cut, tie it up and take it home,” said customer Victoria Wilson. 

While there are pick and cut trees available, it’s a limited amount.  Walterscheidt says it takes time to recover, “When you’re growing a tree, it’s not like an annual crop, that if you lose that crop, next year you plant it and maybe you’ll get it, with a tree, you’re set back for two or three years.”

He says he expects to have up to five hundred trees available for people to cut down from his farm and expects to sell out within a few weeks.

Christmas tree sales start at Evergreen Farms on Friday.

By Lydia Pantazes