By Elizabeth Wulfhorst
Perhaps no tradition evokes the warmth and joy of the holiday season as much as decorating the Christmas tree. Whether you get a live tree – bundling everyone into the car for a trek to the local tree farm or pre-cut lot – or you just grab the artificial tree bagged up in the attic, placing the lights, ornaments and garland on the Tannenbaum signals holiday time like nothing else.
But this year that tradition may be a little bit harder to complete if it includes a live tree. A number of reasons, chiefly the pandemic and its consequent supply chain issues, are causing tree shortages.
Paul Morgano, the owner of Cousins Landscaping, runs a Christmas tree lot in Long Branch and also supplies a few organizations with trees for their annual sales.
“This year I had to cut a few out because of the shortages,” he said. And those he was able to get trees for didn’t get as many as in past years.
Morgano doesn’t blame all the shortages on the pandemic, though. “In 2008 there was a recession and a bad growing season,” he noted. “A lot of farmers didn’t have the money to plant and a lot of farms went out of business.” The trees those farmers would have planted would just be maturing now, ready for homes around the country.
Morgano, who usually buys about 2,000 trees each season for resale, said this year he went to 30 farms along the East Coast looking for tree suppliers, hoping to supplement his supply from his usual farm in the Poconos in Pennsylvania.
“I visited a lot more because I knew it was going to be a problem,” Morgano said. The owner of the farm told him they were going to have a couple of “bad years” and wouldn’t have enough to make it through the season.
In a normal year he would supply the Monmouth Beach Fire Department with 200 trees and the Oceanport First Aid with 100 for their sales. This year Monmouth Beach got 140; Oceanport got none.
To add insult to injury, in addition to the lack of trees, those that are available have become more expensive – 30 to 40 percent more, according to Morgano.
It used to cost him $500 to ship the trees to his lot. That cost has increased to $1,200, Morgano said. “And trees used to cost, wholesale, $40, $50. Those same trees are in the hundreds now. It’s gotten crazy.”
He sells wreaths and grave blankets throughout the season and the decorations have also increased in price. He said a number of suppliers put a “15 to 20 percent surcharge on the bills this year for ‘ocean shipping,’ ” noting that most of the decorations come from China.
Those cost increases aren’t just annoying for him. Morgano tried to let his customers know ahead of time on his website and through email about the shortages and price hikes, but “people are cranky this year,” he said. “Last year, with COVID, it was fun and games. They were locked up and they got to go out and buy a tree. And now, you know, they’re realizing how much everything’s gone up” in price.
He expects to have enough trees to last for about a week and half to two weeks – realistically through Dec. 12, if he’s lucky – with most of his larger trees already gone. Grave blankets and wreaths will be available until Christmas because they make those up on the lot.
If you are worried about finding a pre-cut tree, another option is to cut your own at a local Christmas tree farm, like The Fir Farm in Colts Neck. Owner Bob Clark said the weather was good for the growing season and he doesn’t expect there to be any problems with the supply of cut-your-own trees. The farm also sells pre-cut trees in varieties they don’t grow onsite, and holds an annual Trees for Troops event where people can donate trees to be delivered to military families. While he said he did have some issues with the transportation of pre-cut trees, he was able to get the same amount as in previous years.
“Last year, we saw that so many more people came out to get a real tree. It was wonderful,” Clark said. “That same enthusiasm and desire for real Christmas trees, I’m seeing again.”
And those wanting a live Christmas tree seem to be wanting it earlier than ever this year, maybe because of the fear of shortages.
Clark noted that last year they were “caught off guard” with the number of people who came Thanksgiving weekend for their tree. “This year we had people inquiring the weekend, even 10 days before (Thanksgiving) about trees and it’s like, slow down, slow down. We’ve got to enjoy Thanksgiving!”
For around 25 years, Morgano has opened his lot the day after Thanksgiving. This year they “soft opened” on the Sunday before Thanksgiving as the trees were arriving and being set up “and we’ve been busy ever since,” he said.
The Fir Farm doesn’t allow tagging of trees before purchasing, but Rob Ferrigno, who sells Christmas trees from his multiacre property in Tinton Falls, does.
“I’ve had people tag in September,” Ferrigno said with a laugh. This year one customer cut down their tree 10 days before Thanksgiving, he said, and another came Thanksgiving Day. Black Friday was a very busy day for him as well.
Ferrigno doesn’t advertise, choosing to sell only through word-of-mouth, and accommodates about 75 or more families a year.
“It’s no issue with me as far as getting trees. I just have them in the ground,” he said.
He said costs have also risen for him, even without needing the trucking industry to ship trees to his site. The products he uses to help customers get their trees home – a baler, netting, rope – have all increased dramatically. A few years ago it cost him $300 to buy a baler and have it delivered. A new one, including shipping, was “over $1,000” this year.
“The netting that I use has pretty much doubled in price,” he said.
If you do choose to purchase a live tree early in the season, Ferrigno said there is one very important thing to remember to keep it looking fresh until Christmas Day and beyond: Never, ever, let it run out of water.
When a tree is cut, “you have about 15 minutes before that cut saps over,” he explained. “Once that happens, the tree won’t soak up the water as well. So basically, if you can get it in water within 15 minutes of that first cut, that’s great.”
But if you can’t, don’t panic. Ferrigno suggests making a new cut when you get home or “scuffing up the bottom” with a knife or other sharp object to remove that sap layer immediately before putting it in the stand in water.
Ferrigno said he had a customer keep her tree up until February and it was still vibrant and healthy because she never let it dry out.
“The thing that gets people in trouble is, if it just dries out one time, if it saps over while in the stand, it won’t suck up water anymore, and that’s when they dry out. If that does not happen, the trees will last for months.”
The Trees for Troops program at The Fir Farm in Colts Neck runs through Dec. 5. For more information visit thefirfarm.com.
The article originally appeared in the December 2 – 8, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
