WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Christmas trees could be harder to come by this year. Not only is the supply chain crisis having an impact, but there have been serious weather conditions where most Christmas tree farms are located.
Susan Merrill and her daughter came to Mr. Jingle’s Christmas Trees lot in downtown West Palm Beach to buy a tree.
“I love Christmas! And I want to get decorated quickly. I am here visiting my daughter and she needs to get in the spirit,” said Merrill.
On this Thanksgiving, there were many people who came to the lot.
“Its been insane rush. I never seen people coming in this early to buy their Christmas trees,” said Brandon Helfer, co-owner of Mr. Jingle Christmas Trees.
According to the National Christmas Tree Association, there are around 15,000 Christmas tree farms in the U.S. Each year, Americans purchase approximately 25 to 30 million real Christmas trees.
Most of the trees at the lot in Downtown West Palm beach come from farms in North Carolina. The tree lot also sells trees from Oregon, which has faced serious weather conditions this past year, prompting a possible shortage.
“For real trees, it’s a combination of extreme weather in the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest especially heat, floods, fires, smoke from the fires,” said Jami Warner, executive director with the American Christmas Tree Association.
It takes about eight to ten years for farmers to grow a Christmas tree. The most popular ones are noble trees which were impacted.
“The noble trees are a little bit more expensive, because obviously with the heat and fires a lot of the trees got messed up,” said Helfer. “With fuel cost going up, shipping was a little bit more this year. But we were able to get through it.”
Warner recommends purchasing your tree as early as possible.
“You will be able to find a Christmas tree, a beautiful tree, of any size, shape, color, and species that you want,” said Warner. “You just might have to look a little bit harder than normal and it’ll probably cost a little bit more.”
Susan got lucky and bought a noble tree from Oregon.
“I never dreamed I’d find a noble, but yeah, finding a fresh tree, that’s beautiful and straight from Oregon, it’s not easy,” said Merrill.
