Prepare to pay more for real Christmas trees this year

(FOX 9) - If you're looking to pick out a real Christmas tree with the family this year, prepare to pay a little more than in years past.

Like so many other industries, the Christmas tree business is also seeing rising costs. 

The owner of B&J Evergreen tells Fox9 that Christmas trees are a 10-year business. So while they’ve experienced some difficulty over the course of the pandemic, it’s not the only thing challenging those in the industry.

Experts say back in 2008 and 2012 there was an increase in demand for Christmas trees, but there wasn’t enough planting following those years to offset the demand. The weather back in 2012 also had an impact on this year’s supply of trees. 

While they have plenty of supply for this year, inflation has impacted those in the business. 

"There is fewer trees now, and our costs are rising, you know," said Trent Johnson, owner of B&J Evergreen. "We're having inflationary cost increase. for example's shipping cost 40-50%, so, there are things like that including insurance and labor, irrigation. All of those are added expenses, but that is a lot of industries experiencing those. We are not exception; we are experiencing those as well."

Johnson said labor is their number one cost—trying to keep up with the market, but attract people who want to do the manual labor and get out in the elements. 

This summer’s drought was also really tough on the trees. Johnson said their established trees are just fine, but they did lose about 35-40% of their first-year planters. 

He said they will have enough for those that want a real tree this year and while they are absorbing some of the rise in cost, expect to pay just a little more.