Virginia Evergreen News Journal Fall 2014

Volume 4, Issue 4 Fall 2014Inside this Issue:

President’s Message ‒ 3Newsletter Help ‒ 3

Thanks Letter - VAC ‒ 4Scholarship Recipients ‒ 4

NCTA TIP Thanks ‒ 5Thanks Meeting Sponsors! ‒ 5

Thanks Tim Williams! ‒ 5Contest/Raffle Winners ‒ 6Meeting Photo Gallery ‒ 7Trees for Troops in VA ‒ 8WPS Advocacy Alert ‒ 9

National Update ‒13Houston National Contest

Experience ‒ 14How to Raise Firs Organically ‒ 15

State Police & Tree TransportUpdate ‒ 16

TODS Road Signs ‒ 17Consumer Poll ‒ 17

Entrepreneur E-Books ‒ 18Reading for Growers ‒ 18

Intro to Growing Trees ‒ 22Board/Membership Meeting

Minutes Highlights ‒ 25Are You on Facebook ‒ 25

AdvertisersChristmas Tree Harvester ‒ 2

Cherokee Mfg ‒ 8TNI Netting ‒ 9

Alpha Nursery ‒ 12Bosch’s Countryview Nursery ‒ 16

Tim Mitchell’sYule Stand System ‒ 20Kelco Industries ‒ 21

Riverside Enterprises ‒ 23Tree Teck ‒ 23

VCTGA Tree Tags ‒ 24VCTGA Marketing ‒ 26

Ventrac ‒ 27Wagoner’s Fraser Knoll ‒ 28

VIRGINIACHRISTMAS

TREEGROWERS

ASSOCIATION

The VCTGA 2014 Tree and Wreath Winners

Experience a Real Virginia GrownChristmas Tree

Tree Grand Champion:VIrgINIa & JoHN Carroll

Claybrooke Farm

Wreath Grand Champion:gWEN JoNES

Jones Tree Farm

Help NCTM Promote & Protect Your Business ‒ 9Worker Protection Alert ‒ 10

How to Raise Firs Organically ‒ 15Are Your Trucks Legal? ‒ 16

Reading for Progressive Growers ‒ 18Introduction to Growing Trees - Part I ‒ 22

2 | VCTGA News Journal – Fall 2014

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From the President

I wish everyone would have been able to attend our annual meeting in Winchester this past August. We had a good turnout and Tim Williams, our VP, put together an informative and memorable event. From my perspec-tive, one the highlights included a sig-nificant increase in the number of trees entered into the contest. The tree dis-play was reminiscent of when I first joined the Association 20 years ago and we had more growers and entries. It was such a nice touch to approach the Conference Center and see perfectly sheared Christmas trees, and one large wreath, on display at the front door. Now we need to build on that success and likewise increase the number of competition wreaths. Robert O’Keefe has worked hard to promote both con-tests and I think he was deservedly pleased.

I thank Kathy and Paris for sharing their home, farm and operation with us. The facilities were top notch as they accommodated concurrent workshops. Donna O’Halloran’s always popular wreath workshop was well attended as was the pesticide application presenta-tion. Kathy arranged a great lunch and the Rasnic’s encouraged us to wander through the tree fields. The gift shop and the workshops were full of crafts in various stages of production. The hard work and creativity that has gone into the development of their farm was well in evidence and I am sure we all appre-ciated the time and effort required in the evolution of Moose Apple Christ-mas Tree Farm.

We introduced the VCTGA mobile website at the summer meeting. The primary purpose of the mobile website is make our farm locator available on smart phones.

John Carroll recommended we in-vite Dr. Larry Kuhn to speak and what a good idea that was! I would be surprised if there was anyone present who could not relate to Dr. Kuhn’s ex-periences. He entertained us, humored us and provided a number of educa-tional insights. He spoke to us as fellow growers, not as an industry expert, and through his question and answer ses-sions, he encouraged us to share our own experiences with him and each other.

That brings me to the primary focus of this letter. The dictionary defines the word ‘association’ as: “an organi-zation of persons having a common in-terest.” I find that VCTGA more than meets the spirit and intent of that defi-nition. We warmly welcome new growers and members. We are pleased to share experiences, both in open fo-rum, through the workshops such Kyle’s new grower presentation and through the informal fellowship oppor-tunities that characterize our meetings. We freely compare notes on every as-pect of Christmas tree production and fully participate in information ex-changes such as Dr. Kuhn’s presenta-tions for the benefit of all. Along with our VDACS partners, Danny, David and Leanne, we reach out to our cus-tomers and the general public with the singular goal of enhancing their holi-day celebrations. While we each pos-sess a different level of experience, and maybe a different focus, we do share, not just a common interest, but a com-mon passion and surely do meet the definition of the word ‘association’ in every respect.

And don’t forget to call or email Jeff Miller and place your order to our As-sociation promotional items. I think your customers will appreciate the va-riety and utility of the items we have available.

Greg Lemmer

TO: VCTGA Members Please send news, profiles, articles for the VCTGA Newsletter, This is your News Journal and we need in-put from you:

What does the upcoming season look like?

How was this growing season?

Is there enough production, too much?

What new techniques, products have you used this year and how did they work out? What are you doing with social media?

Any major pest/disease/weed issues this year?

How did you like the annual meet-ing? What did you learn?

What new activities, products, etc. do you have planned for this season?

Have you tried the new mobile farm lookup from your cell phone? Go to www.virginiachrist-mastrees.org and the new mobile version will recognize your mobile phone. What do you think?

Have you updated your mini-page? Updated it now before you get in the rush of the tree season. What type of information would you like to see in the News Journal?

What vendors would you like seeing in the News Journal?

Ideas for content, layout, pictures?

Can we do a profile on your oper-ation? Contact the VNLA Office, 540-382-7310, [email protected] It's easy and we'll give you some guidelines.

Help make Your News Journal better!

www.virginiachrist-mastrees.org.

[email protected].

4 | VCTGA News Journal – Fall 2014Page 4 VCTGA News Journal –Fall 2014

Virginia Agribusiness Council Thank you

Thank you for renewing your mem-bership in the Virginia Agribusiness Council. Your ongoing support ena-bles the Council to represent our industry with a unified voice. Our membership and impact continues to grow as more of your fellow indus-try members recognize the benefits of working together to advance the business interests of agriculture and forestry producers, processors, man-ufacturers, retailers, and suppliers.

We encourage you to stay up to date on the Council's activities, events, and efforts on your behalf through our communications with you via email, our website, and social media. Visit www.va-agribusiness.org to find issue papers and briefings, leg-islative information, and access the Council's Membership Directory and other member-only information. Your active involvement with the Council provides you tangible bene-fits from your membership and sup-ports our advocacy efforts as well.

You are the Virginia Agribusiness Council and we want to hear from you. We welcome your questions, concerns, suggestions or opinions about the Council or current issues. Please feel free to call either of us — Danny Shreckhise, 2014 Board Chairman, at (540) 249-5761 or Katie Frazier, President, at (804) 643-3555.

Thank you again for your continued commitment to the Council and our efforts to advocate for and advance the interests of the agribusiness community.

Sincerely, Danny Shreckhise, 2014 Chairman, Board of Directors,

Katie Frazier

Letter from Scholarship Recipient: Robert Nance

I am writing to express thank you for your generous $750 VCTGA Scholarship. I was thrilled to hear I was selected to be the recipient of your scholarship and I am deeply appreciative of your support.

I am a Horticulture major studying Landscape Contracting at Virginia Tech. My goal is to one day become a superintendent for a golf course or manage a large scale plant nursery as a manager of horticultural prac-tices, all while owning a successful medium scale commercial and resi-dential landscaping company on the side. However, my main underlying goal in life is to be happy with what I do regardless of the amount of in-come I earn. I find that I show great interest in plants and they are my passion, and I enjoy working and being around them. I am always looking for a way to become closer to my goals, and thanks to you I am one step closer to those goals.

Sometimes I am worried about the financial ability to continue my years as a Hokie. For my family is enduring various financial obstacles and is unable to further support me financially leaving the financial re

sponsibility on myself By awarding me this scholarship, you have light-ened my financial burden which al-lows me to focus more on the most important aspect of school, learning. I always perform my best at every-thing I do and I promise you I will continue to work very hard. Your generosity has inspired me to help others and give back to the commu-nity. I hope one day I will be able to help students achieve their goals just as you have helped me.

Once again, I thank you for your generous support that will help me secure financial aid I need to pursue my horticulture degree and sow the seeds of success for my future.

Sincerely, Robert M. Nance, Portsmouth, VA

Letter from Scholarship Recipient

James Rockwell I am truly honored to have been se-lected as a recipient of the Virginia Christmas Tree Growers Association Scholarship for this school year. I cannot express enough how grateful I am of the generosity of your organ-ization to my peers and to myself. As a previous recipient of this schol-arship, I am once again thankful for the assistance in my journey at Vir-ginia Tech. The cost of being a stu-dent rises greatly each year and can often prevent full engagement in the resources Virginia Tech has to offer. Through scholarships like this one, I am able to set those worries aside and focus on receiving the most comprehensive education I can.

Coming from a small family farm, pursuing a degree in the field of ag-riculture has always been important to me. I am currently working to attain a dual degree in Environmen-tal Horticulture and Agribusiness Management with an anticipated

VCTGA News Journal – Fall 2014 | 5VCTGA News Journal – Fall 2014 Page 5

graduation of May, 2015. I plan to one day find a career in the horticul-tural support or service industries. I hope this position will have a basis in greenhouse production and will allow for advocacy of horticulture and the industry as a whole. This will allow me to give back to the industry that has already given so much to me.

I hope to complete my studies at Virginia Tech this year with the final classes required for my degree and additional classes of my interest. f plan to continue as an active mem-ber of several different organizations on campus such as the Horticulture Club at Virginia Tech and the Col-lege of Agriculture and Life Scienc-es Ambassador Team. Overall, I plan to make the most of my senior year at the place I am proud to call home. Scholarships make all this possible for me. Through organiza-tions such as yours, students succeed and for that I am forever thankful.

Thank you again for your support! Sincerely, James Rockwell

Thank you for your association's continuing commitment to the Tree

Industry Partnership (TIP)

The TIP program is essential to NCTA's mission to protect and ad-vocate for the farm-grown Christmas tree industry. The funds collected through the program are vital in supporting NCTA's legislative and regulatory initiatives, holiday safety,

research, national media advocacy and other protection-focused pro-grams. These programs allow the industry to:

• Combat misinformation about farm-grown Christmas Trees and the industry as a whole.

• Improve and maintain codes that allow for the safe use of Christ-mas Trees in homes and busi-nesses.

• Support legislation and regula-tions conducive to the growth of small businesses, and resist at-tempts to unreasonably restrict farmers' Right to Farm.

• Conduct national consumer and industry research to prepare for the future.

• Shape consumer opinion through information and educa-tion, as well as positive events such as the White House Tree presentation.

While the TIP program is designed for the greater good of the industry, your individual association members also receive specific benefits, in-cluding:

• A FREE basic listing on the NCTA Tree Locator, or an en-hanced listing for $15

• A link to their own website for $25

• Discounted registration for NCTA events

• The opportunity to purchase a discounted subscription to the American Christmas Tree Jour-nal for $37, a savings of more than $20 off the regular price

Do not hesitate to contact us at any time with your questions and con-cerns, and thank you for your work as an industry partner.

Blake Rafeld, NCTA President

Thanks to these Generous

Sponsors of the Annual

Conference!

GOLD SPONSORS

Kubota Tractor Anonymous

Moose Apple Christmas Tree Farm

SILVER SPONSORS

Farm Credit Southern States

Tri-State Distributors of Statesville Virginia Farm Bureau

Farm Bureau Insurance – Floyd Reliable Source – Jim Rockis

Thanks to Tim Williams,

VCTGA VP, for planning and

organizing, a great An-nual Meeting and Farm

Tour!

VCTGA VP,for planning and

organizing a greatAnnual Meetingand Farm Tour!


VCTGA 2014 Tree and Wreath Winners

Tree Grand Champion: Virginia & John Carroll, Claybrooke Farm

Reserve Grand Champion: Robert O’Keeffe, Rifton Farm &

Nursery

Firs 1st Virginia & John Carroll, Claybrooke Farm Canaan Fir

2nd Greg Miller, Willow Springs Tree Farms Concolor Fir

3rd Tom & Donna O’Halloran, Glengary Tree Farm - Douglas Fir

Pines 1st Brandon Brown, Boy’s Home - White Pine

2nd Tom & Donna O’Halloran, Glengary Tree Farm - White Pine

Spruces 1st Robert O’Keeffe, Rifton Farm & Nursery - Colorado Blue Spruce

2nd Tom & Donna O’Halloran, Glengary Tree Farm - Colorado Blue Spruce

Wreath

Grand Champion: Gwen Jones,

Jones Tree Farm

Thank you to this year’s participants in the annual Tree & Wreath contest. Entries were up again this year and it’s not too early to start thinking about next year’s contest; we will be meeting in Waynesboro. Additional thanks to our judges: John Houston (last year’s grand champion), Tom-my Naylor, VCTGA member and Cindi Rampulla, general manager at the Hampton Inn.

Provided by Robert O'Keeffe, Rifton Farm & Nursery,

(540) 651-8440, [email protected]

Tree & Wreath Contest & Raffle Winners

Chain Saw Raffle Winner

???????????????????????

The Auction/Raffle raised over $1,900 for the Scholarship Fund

William Jones, Jones Tree Farm in Spotsylvania, was the raffle winner of the Stihl Chain Saw donated by the Power Zone.

The Auction/Raffle raised over $1,900 for the Scholarship Fund.

VCTGA News Journal – Fall 2014 | 7


Trees for Troops Update for Virginia

Trees for Troops 2014 is in full-swing! The staff at the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, Lauren Mang-nall and Nicole Feltes, have been hard at work since July to make sure this year is a success. By early Oc-tober, all of the state pick-up points and tree donation numbers should be finalized so FedEx can begin plot-ting out the logistics. This year, Trees for Troops hopes to collect over 10,000 trees from the state pick-up points nationwide. We can’t make that happen without your sup-port! If you would like to donate trees or be one of the pick-up points in your state, please contact one of the state coordinators in Virginia:

Virginia Christmas Tree Growers Association John Carroll at [email protected]

Mt. Rogers Area Christmas Tree Growers Association John Rosser at [email protected]

Trees for Troops Weekend is December 5-7, 2014

We currently don’t have any Trees for Troops Weekend loca-tions in the state of Virginia. If your farm or lot is interested in sign-ing up to be a trailer drop this year, please contact CSF Director, Lauren Mangnall at [email protected] . During Trees for Troops Weekend, FedEx provides a 28' trailer at your loca-tion, for a minimal cost.

During the designated Weekend, you host an event for customers and the community to help you support Trees for Troops! Your customers can purchase one of your trees and then donate it to the program by fill-

ing out a tree tag and then loading it onto the FedEx truck. That trees will be collected after the weekend and delivered to one of the participating military bases just days later.

Celebrating 10 Years of Tradition 2014 marks the 10th Anniversary of Trees for Troops. We hope to make this year one of our biggest! There are some exciting things planned to help raise money for the program and to celebrate out 10th year. Make sure you are following Trees for Troops on social media – Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest – for the latest updates and announcements!

Sherrie Taylor

2014 Real Tree Invest-ments

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VCTGA News Journal – Fall 2014 | 9Page 8 VCTGA News Journal –Fall 2014

Trees for Troops Update for Virginia

Trees for Troops 2014 is in full-swing! The staff at the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, Lauren Mang-nall and Nicole Feltes, have been hard at work since July to make sure this year is a success. By early Oc-tober, all of the state pick-up points and tree donation numbers should be finalized so FedEx can begin plot-ting out the logistics. This year, Trees for Troops hopes to collect over 10,000 trees from the state pick-up points nationwide. We can’t make that happen without your sup-port! If you would like to donate trees or be one of the pick-up points in your state, please contact one of the state coordinators in Virginia:

Virginia Christmas Tree Growers Association John Carroll at [email protected]

Mt. Rogers Area Christmas Tree Growers Association John Rosser at [email protected]

Trees for Troops Weekend is December 5-7, 2014

We currently don’t have any Trees for Troops Weekend loca-tions in the state of Virginia. If your farm or lot is interested in sign-ing up to be a trailer drop this year, please contact CSF Director, Lauren Mangnall at [email protected] . During Trees for Troops Weekend, FedEx provides a 28' trailer at your loca-tion, for a minimal cost.

During the designated Weekend, you host an event for customers and the community to help you support Trees for Troops! Your customers can purchase one of your trees and then donate it to the program by fill-

ing out a tree tag and then loading it onto the FedEx truck. That trees will be collected after the weekend and delivered to one of the participating military bases just days later.

Celebrating 10 Years of Tradition 2014 marks the 10th Anniversary of Trees for Troops. We hope to make this year one of our biggest! There are some exciting things planned to help raise money for the program and to celebrate out 10th year. Make sure you are following Trees for Troops on social media – Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest – for the latest updates and announcements!

Sherrie Taylor

2014 Real Tree Invest-ments

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NCTA Advocacy Alert, News for the Industry

and Your Business The National Christmas Tree Associ-ation (NCTA) is a signatory on the following comments posted concern-ing proposed changes to the EPA's Worker Protection Standard (WPS):

Concerns with the Underlying Justi-fication for the Proposed Rule

Now that two decades have passed since the WPS took effect, some tar-geted refinements to its current re-quirements may make sense. That said, we strongly disagree with EPA's conclusion that wholesale WPS changes are needed. We are particularly concerned about the pro-posal's extensive preamble. The pre-amble attempts to justify the signifi-cant proposed changes to the WPS based on the demographics of migrant workers and unsubstantiated assump-tions of frequent acute over exposures and chronic illnesses of farm workers. The benefits section of the preamble is chock full of words like "estimate", "plausible" and "sizable." These alle-gations about worker exposure and chronic illness are not substantiated nor validated by scientific evidence or practical experience.

Numerous advances in worker safe-ty have been realized in the 22 years that the WPS has been in place. In the early 1990s, our growers were substantially more reliant on older classes of chemistry such as organo-phosphates and carbamates, with po-tentially greater human and animal toxicity concerns. However, since that time, our growers have made a major transition to reduced-risk materials, biologicals and other pest manage-ment strategies.

Application technologies have also improved dramatically. For exam-ple, the Horticultural Research Insti-tute, the research affiliate of Ameri-canHort, has partnered with USDA's Agricultural Research Service and its

Application Technology Research Unit in Wooster, OH. Now the indus-try is benefiting from great advances in spray technology to improve accu-racy and drastically reduce spray vol-ume and the potential for spray drift. Such trends and gains have contribut-ed to enhanced worker protection, yet appear to have been ignored by the Agency as it has articulated a one-sided and misleading justification for this proposed rule.

Further, the pesticide registration and re-evaluation process became significantly more stringent with the passage of the Food Quality Protec-tion Act in 1996. The preamble fails to acknowledge the rigorous pesticide registration and re-evaluation program that sets application rates, re-entry intervals and personal protective equipment requirements to ensure products are protective of both human health and the environment when used as directed by the product label.

The proposed WPS revisions are extremely complex and will nega-tively impact nursery, greenhouse, Christmas tree and floriculture growing operations. We are con-cerned the proposal would place new burdens on horticultural operations and these regulatory burdens will not for the most part improve worker safe-ty. In some cases, the proposed revi-sions overlap but do not completely align with other existing requirements such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Hazard Communication Standard and Field Sanitation Standard.

Finally, the proposed changes to the WPS fail to adequately acknowledge the adverse economic impact on small nursery, green-house, and Christmas tree and flo-riculture operations. The Agency acknowledges the rule will affect an estimated 300,000 or more small farms, nurseries and greenhouses, plus many hundred other small commercial entities. The rule's cost burden has been significantly underestimated and is not justified relative to the assumed benefits. It is important to note many

sectors of the horticulture industry were badly impacted by the economic downturn and the "great recession" as well as ongoing demographic shifts. Many growers have gone out of busi-ness; the recently-released Census of Agriculture suggests a nearly 25 per-cent decline in production of woody nursery crops. Many growers who survived have lost equity and are still vulnerable. In this environment, in-creased regulatory compliance costs are destabilizing and often untenable.

Specific Technical Concerns with WPS Proposed Revision

By offering the following specific concerns, we in no way endorse or encourage the Agency to proceed with finalizing its proposed revisions to the WPS.

Authorized Representative. EPA should remove the concept of an "au-thorized representative" from the pro-posed rule. This proposed requirement raises complex and confusing legal issues and may conflict with various federal and state labor laws. The re-quirement is not related to worker safety and instead appears to be an effort by the federal government to assert union or worker advocate par-ticipation in agricultural employment. EPA regulations should not intrude into labor law issues.

Worker Training (170.101). Subsec-tion 101(a) would require worker training every 12 months. We do not believe a yearly interval for in-depth training is necessary for nursery and greenhouse workers. We believe the training interval and content should recognize the workers' duties, existing experience and previous training. An annual refresher training course cou-pled with occasional in-depth retrain-ing should be adequate for experi-enced workers. New workers should receive in-depth training.

Training Verification (170.101(d) and 170.201(d)). We do not believe a blanket requirement to provide rec-ords of training to employees provides value. Most will not retain such in-formation. It could be required that


records be provided on request. That way, if a worker is changing employ-ment, they could access their training record for the next employer. In the hiring and training process, there are many things other than WPS included in orientation. Training must be a structured process with elements oc-curring in progression. It would be cumbersome to customize the training and record keeping process by indi-vidual. Date of birth should not be included as part of the record, as there are privacy concerns.

Warning Sign Content (170.109(b)(3)(ii)). WPS warning signs commonly used in horticultural growing operations are reported to cost around six dollars each. Large operations may maintain 1,000 or more signs. How did the Agency ar-rive at the conclusion that the cost to implement the warning sign change would be 25 cents per establishment? A requirement to change warning signs constitutes significant cost bur-den. Any change would need to be phased in over years and the transition would add a great deal of confusion. Training and enforcement of the cur-rent sign's meaning is the responsibil-ity of the employer. Few employees are allowed to enter a treated area dur-ing an REI, and they understand the meaning of the warning sign and their responsibilities. Changing the mes-sage to "entry restricted" will dilute the meaning to the majority of farm workers and create compliance confu-sion.

Pesticide-Specific Hazard Commu-nication 170.11(b). Maintaining Safe-ty Data Sheets (SDS) is a monumental task involving more than just pesti-cides. The requirement to obtain product-specific SDS and to make them available is already accom-plished under OSHA's Hazard Com-munication Standard. It will only cre-ate compliance confusion and burden for EPA to impose largely redundant, yet not fully conforming, regulations covering this aspect of hazard com-munication. Nor do we believe this added burden will yield meaningful

information with respect to concerns over chronic exposure. Furthermore, we do not believe it is realistic, or even possible, to know and maintain accurate records as to exactly when a label may have been revised, especial-ly compared to a specific application date.

Application Information-Location and Accessibility and Record Reten-tion 170.11(b), 170.11(b)(2). We question the validity and utility of the proposed requirement to maintain ap-plication information for two years. Practically speaking, the plants to which the pesticide was applied will likely not be there. The ability to track worker movements over such a time span is unrealistic. Also, the mention of keeping these records in the same place as SDS and label information is confusing. Does this mean the same physical location within a site? The duties of maintaining the various rec-ords may reside with staff located across the facility; the key is whether all needed information can be made available with a single request. As a general matter, the proposed require-ment to retain various records for two years is excessive.

Basic Safety Information at Decon-tamination Sites, 170.11(a)(3). In the discussion of alternatives, EPA refer-ences the use of mobile decontamina-tion sites, and reasons that adding basic safety information would not appear to constitute a burden. While smaller operations may have portable decontamination sites, larger opera-tions often have permanent sites locat-ed every quarter mile. These sites usu-ally consist of restroom facilities as required by OSHA's Field Sanitation Standard and are standalone structures with no protected area for immediate-ly visible posting. Should this infor-mation be illegible due to weather degradation, this would be a violation. The Agency should allow for either central posting or at decontamination sites, either method being compliant.

Decontamination and Emergency Assistance, Quantity of Water, 170.111(b) and 170.209(b). While we

appreciate the challenge EPA is at-tempting to address, we are struggling with numerous inherent challenges. Horticultural plant production is ex-tremely labor-intensive. How would an employer determine the number of people at any point in time that may be within a quarter mile of a particular decontamination site during each and every day over a 30-day period after an REI? What is the time period over which the one or three gallons per person must be available? If water is supplied by a well or municipal source, how do you determine flow rate or capacity in order to comply?

Natural waters/Handler Ocular, 170.209(d). On nursery and Christmas tree operations it is worth noting some permanent sites may be supplied for mixing purposes by surface water sources such as a pond or reservoir. Maintenance of potable water in the absence of permanent plumbing is difficult.

Conclusion

For all the reasons stated above, we collectively urge EPA to withdraw this proposed rule and instead focus the necessary resources to work with state lead agencies and agricul-tural stakeholders to enhance the effectiveness of the current WPS.

If EPA moves to promulgate a final rule, we sincerely hope the scope and reach of the revisions will be more narrowly tailored to a limited number of changes which improve the stand-ard's goal of protecting workers while minimizing costs and burdens.

NCTA and many others are thankful for the opportunity to submit these comments on EPA's proposed revi-sions to the Worker Protection Stand-ard. Would you like to join in?

NCTA represents the Real Christmas Tree Community with one voice to protect and advocate on behalf of your business. Show your support with an investment in the

Provided by Sherrie Taylor Real Tree Advocacy Fund.



NCTA Update

Web Site Updates NCTA is gearing up for the harvest and sales season by making content and navigation changes to the web site so it geared more towards the general public. New website content includes: Updated homepage rotator content & graphics; Added “Ask NCTA” button on homepage; In the tree locator we added list of growers who offer online tree sales; Created webpage for additional Tradition Makers content; Updated past White House Tree pages; Updated Media Press Room page; Removed Christ-mas Reading page.

TIP STATES

Each member of a state/regional as-sociation which participates in the TIP Program, is invited to have their retail business listed in the NCTA maintained “find a tree” web site directory for the general public to find your business. However, it’s critical that the state/regional associ-ation contacts provide the updated data for each of their members every year. NCTA’s member services rep-resentative Amy Rhorer will send a kind email to each TIP state contact requesting current members and basic info on a spreadsheet template. That spreadsheet needs to be updat-ed and sent back. We can only up-load the data provided to the data-base. So for example, if all that is sent back is a list of names, our web site search tool will not show the customers an address. ALL of the contact info for each TIP state mem-ber must be provided on the spread-sheet. American Christmas Tree Journal

NCTA is publishing 2 issues of ACTJ in 2014. All members should have received their Spring/Summer issue and the Fall/Winter issue is scheduled to be mailed October 30. Contest Changes The NCTA Board recently voted to make the contest go back to an every OTHER year contest, beginning in 2015. So state/regional association champions who wish to enter the 2015 contest should prepare for the chance at being a co-Grand Cham-pion for both 2015 and 2016. Christmas Tree Fire Stats We finally had a chance to review the report on home fires involving Christmas trees published by NFPA in November 2013. It shows that in the period between 2007 and 2011, an average of 230 home structure fires per year involved a "Christmas tree" as the first item ignited. Of those, 25% involved a plastic, fake tree. Of those involving a real Christmas tree, 20% were set inten-tionally. What that leaves is 145.6 on average where a home fire in-volved a real Christmas tree as the first item ignited from an accidental ignition source. Now, in 2011, 30.8 MILLION real Christmas trees were purchased in the U.S. So if you di-vide 145.6 by 30,800,000 you get 0.000004 ....that means that the chances of a real Christmas tree be-ing accidentally ignited on fire is four-ten-thousandths of one percent. Or, expressed numerically, of all the real Christmas trees displayed, 0.0004% accidentally catch on fire. Think about that next time you see the local action news team show a story about the "dangers of Christ-mas tree fires" ...and share the FACTS with as many people as you can. NCTA Spring Webinar Series WEBINAR RECORDINGS STILL AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE - For just $15! - it

may not be as good as having been there, but you can now get access to slides and recordings of NCTA's complete 2014 Spring Webinar Se-ries. Hear the full results of the 2013 Harris Interactive consumer poll from NCTA's Executive Director, Rick Dungey. Get the scoop on leg-islative action taking place for the industry from NCTA's point man on Capitol Hill, Craig Regelbrugge. And take an inside look at the re-cently released results of the 2012 Ag Census as they relate to the Christmas Tree farms from Lance Honig of the National Ag Stats Ser-vice. As a bonus, the last webinar includes a presentation from Rick Dungey on housing trends that will impact our industry. For more in-formation, or to purchase, email [email protected] today. Membership 579 National members (Not including TIP) as of 8/14/2014 It’s Your Industry We Need Your Support NCTA is continuing its focus on protection and advocacy, working to address issues that affect the present and future of the industry. A mailer and donation form have been mailed to all national and state members. NCTA's mission is to protect and advocate for the farm-grown Christmas tree industry. It is the one entity most-capable of doing that on behalf of ALL businesses in this industry. It doesn’t matter if you’re a small choose and cut farm, a large wholesale farm, a wholesal-er/distributor or a multi-lot retail business. It doesn’t matter if you’re east coast or west coast. It doesn’t matter what species of trees you grow and sell. When NCTA is func-tioning and achieving its mission of advocacy and protection, everyone in the industry benefits.

But this advocacy and protection doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It re-quires funds and cooperation with

14 | VCTGA News Journal – Fall 2014VCTGA News Journal – Fall 2014 Page 15

growers, retailers, researchers and state/regional associations. In a very recent survey of NCTA members, 93% of respondent’s rated “voice of the industry with media, consumers and fire code groups” as the most important thing NCTA does for them. It was the highest rated activi-ty.

That and other protective and advo-cacy activities are funded by VOL-UNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS to the “Real Tree Advocacy Fund.”

Please make your contribution to the Real Tree Advocacy Fund or Legis-lative Action Fund today by using that form or visiting www.christmastree.org or calling 636/449-5070. Thank you to every-one who has made their commitment in 2014!

Rick Dungey, NCTA Exec. Dir.

Winners of the NCTA Tree and Wreath

Contest Christmas Tree growers from across the U.S. met for the National Tree & Wreath Contests on July 25 and 26 in Allegan, Michigan. A panel of industry experts served as judges, as well as attendees and consumers.

National Tree Contest

Congratulations to Grand Champion Chris Botek (pictured) of Crystal Springs Tree Farm in Lehighton, PA.

Chris has the honor of presenting the Blue Room White House tree this year. Reserve Champion Dan Taylor of Dan and Bryan Trees in Kearneysville, WV. Dan has the honor of presenting a tree to the vice president's residence this season.

National Wreath Contest Categories:

Undecorated: 1. Dale Hudler, Hudler Tree Farm

LLC, West Jefferson, NC - Grand Champion

2. Joanna Clindaniel, Egolf Christmas Trees Inc., Wanatah, IN

3. Gary Hague, Hague's Christmas Trees, Hatfield, PA

Decorated: 1. Dale Hudler, Hudler Tree Farm

LLC, West Jefferson, NC - Grand Champion

2. Glenn & Jay Bustard, Bustard's Christmas Trees, Lansdale, PA

3. Gary Hague, Hague's Christmas Trees, Hatfield, PA

Provided by Sherrie Taylor, VCTGA representative to the NCTA

National Tree Contest Experience

John Houston (r), 2013 VCTGA Christ-mas Tree Contest Winner, represented

Virginia in the National Christmas Tree Contest this summer in Michigan.

Below, he discusses his experience in the national contest

Well, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words and in this case the ex-perience of the event is worth more than that, the best things I learned was the poise and perfectionism the winning competitors had, where the sum of the most minor details all added up. The

rules form that NCTA sends did give me a pretty good idea what characteristics would be judged, and the best summary I could give for a tree that will win is a obnoxiously healthy, straight, totally full, even foliage tree that only has min-imal need have any shearing/shaping at all. I assumed that typically Fraser firs win, but to my surprise a Douglas Fir won grand prize for 2014, and I think there has been winning blue spruce re-cently, a real encouragement to non-Fraser growers.

Ok! There is the positive things, but I went all the way to Michigan and did not bring home a ribbon of any place, what happened? There is a little fore-sight I could have solicited for... A Christmas tree contest a third of the way across the continent in the middle of summer... REFRIGERATION!!! That was a given but not occurring to me till I was about half way there. at least haul it in a van with really cool AC. Despite all I could have done to bring a better culti-vated tree I really am convinced that my trees were not finished growing for the summer by the time of the contest was come, maybe the really dry June was the cause.

Do it over again. I would like the con-test to be a couple of weeks later and give more time for finding the tree any-way. Same for the wreath contest, the contestants were serious masters at the trade. The best wreaths were made mainly of exotic firs to my surprise... Corkbark, Turkish, Nordman, Noble; Worth finding some ahead of time. An-other thing helpful to note, the decorated category will be judged more by the actual quality of the wreath than what bow and picks are used.

Now for my farm this year there is a lot of focus and energy going into the choose and cut farm and the mall, and passerby’s are noticing but you really don't know what the year will bring re-tail wise till it gets here and for me wholesale has never been a great focus, we do just what can generally helps folks in the Christmas tree neighbor-hood.

John Houston


At Reed Island Farm, Virginia's Billy Christmas Discovers the Techniques

LOWER PEACOCK, VA - For the past five years Billy Cornette has been growing Christmas trees organ-ically. He came to the approach gradually, slowly phasing out the herbicides, insecticides, and fertiliz-ers he had been using since estab-lishing the farm in 1989.

Cornette - who also goes by 'Billy Christmas' - has found no production loss with his new approach. Instead, he has realized a net revenue gain by having fewer input costs.

The Fraser firs (and a handful of other assorted Christmas tree spe-cies) at his Reed Island Farm don't suffer much insect damage, Cornette said, because of the equilibrium which develops in his fields during the growing season.

During the spring and summer, a vigorous population of weed takes over the space between the trees and ii the rows of his tree fields. The plants become the habitat for popu-lation of beneficial insects which keel harmful pests in check,

"What I've discovered, Cornette said, "If you maintain a natural bal-ance in the fields insects take maybe 12 trees year." Cornette's Reed Is land Farm currently has close to 30,000 Christmas trees. (The most it has had was 35,000.)

"Beneficial insects like to have two sources of food," Cornette contin-ued. Not just the soft bodied insects (like aphids and spider mites) but also pollen. He believes that benefi-cial insects like yellow flowered weeds such as Jerusalem artichoke and black-eyed Susan.- Years ago Cornette purchased and released parasitic wasps in his fields but he doesn’t do that anymore since wasps

have established themselves on his farm. “Parasitic wasps do a grand job.”

Since moving to organic production, Cornette has seen an increase in non-introduced beneficial insects as well, including praying mantises and Japanese lady-bugs (a noxious pest to homeowners but a predator of soft-bodied in-sects).

Cornette waits to mow the rows in his fields until after the weeds have set seeds, as he wants to encourage the following year’s population of weeds. Usually he mows the rows (with a 42-inch bush hog) in late August. The he spaces between the trees are cultivated by migrant labor he brings in to trim his trees. They cut the weeds with the same shear-ing knife they use to trim the trees. He pays his workers for this extra work but overall his costs are lower. What’s more, he also believes this approach maintains soil health of his fields.

When Cornette sees a Fraser infect-ed with balsam wooly adelgid, he carefully removes the tree and burns it. Similarly, when he is mowing and sees bagworms on a tree, he'll stop his tractor and physically crush all of the cases on the tree, killing the bugs inside.

Cornette is not inexperienced when it comes to raising Christmas trees. Not only has he been doing it for almost 25 years, but he is also a three-time Grand Champion winner at the Virginia Christmas Tree Grower's Association's annual tree contest. That event, which is judged by panel of Christmas tree growers, selects the grower who is honored to furnish a Christmas tree to the Vir-ginia's Governor’s Mansion that hol-iday season.

Reed Island sells about 1500 trees

annually - about 1,000 wholesale and 500 choose-n-cut. Cornette re-plants about 3,000 trees every other year to replenish his inventory, in-terplanting on existing rows. He uses six-foot rows to allow him to fit a tractor in between the trees. (The tractor has skirts on it which push back the limbs of the trees as the tractor down a row.)

Cornette has long grown his own seedlings, but is considering phasing that out. He has some test plots of maturing trees which were seedlings that got transplanted late as tall, leg-gy 3-4's.

The idea, he said, was to see wheth-er he could turn such unconventional transplants into good Christmas trees.

"Personally I believe I could make any tree into a Christmas tree," Cor-nette said. The key, he said, is a combination of many management factors, including shearing tech-nique.

For many years Cornette did all of the shearing on his farm himself. The process took him from October through March. Now with hired la-bor, he can get the farm sheared in one weekend. The investment he said is well worth it.

Among other things, it allows him and his wife Betty Vornbrock (a champion fiddle player) to spend more time playing music. Both Cor-nette and Vornbrock teach music, and in the winter after Christmas, they often tour with a band, playing old-time music in other parts of the country.

During the holiday season, like many other choose-n-cut farms, Reed Island showcases the beauty of its location. Little Reed Island Creek runs through, the farm (you take a wooden bridge

How to Raise Fraser Firs Organically


over the creek to get to the tree farm), and hay rides give tours of the farm.

In addition to trees, the farm also sells roping (from white pine) and wreaths (which Betty makes), but only retail at the farm. Every year the farm does sell three dozen or so large trees to commercial interest like shopping malls.

Since switching to organic production, Cornette had noted that he loses only about a dozen trees a year to insects. That’s less than he loses to deer. In an average year, deer damage leads to about 20- 30 lost trees thou in a “real-ly bad year” the number lost to deer has been 200. Plus Cornette admits he does lose some trees to himself and his tractor. Sometimes it’s hard to see where the trees are, moving down thick stands of weeds. But the tradeoff is worth it.

For more infor www.reedisland.com reprinted from Country Folks Grower

State police, DMV share information on farm product transport

Staff from the Virginia State Police and the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles shared information about motor carrier safety inspections and vehicle weight limits with farmers Dec. 3 during a workshop titled "Things You Need to Know about Transporting Farm Products in Virgin-ia." "The main function of the motor carrier safety program is to keep the roads safe," said state police Master Trooper C.F. Rosemond Ill. "For us, safety is a major concern. We're after compliance and safety; we're not out to ticket you. We want to remove po-tentially unsafe drivers and hazardous vehicles from the roadway." Virginia follows federal motor carrier safety regulations pertaining to commercial vehicles. Rosemond said that the safe-ty program calls for inspections of a truck, its load and its driver. Such in-spections cover brakes, air leaks, cou-plings, exhaust and fuel systems,

lighting, safe loading and more. With regard to weight limitations, DMV representative Bobby Pulley said "the longer the truck, the better. "The more axles and the longer the truck is, the more you can haul, and if the truck is light, you can haul more." The maxi-mum width of any vehicle on the in-terstate and designated highways is 102 inches, excluding mirrors and any warning devices installed on a school bus. The maximum height of all vehi-cles is 13 feet 6 inches. For weight, interstate travel is restricted to a max-imum of 80,000 pounds. However, motor carriers can purchase an appro-priate overload permit to extend their maximum weight to 84,000 pounds to travel on non-interstate highways. Vehicles registered as farm vehicles, also known as F-tag vehicles, can op-erate as if they purchased the 5 per-cent permit for free until caught over that limit. Registered farm vehicles hauling Virginia-grown forest or farm products from the place where they are first produced, harvested or felled

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to the location where they are first processed can also receive an addi-tional s percent extension of the single axle, tandem axle and gross weight limits. Those with "Farm Use" tags only are not eligible for the weight overages. "The Golden Rule is that you have to buy something to get something," Pulley said. "So buy an F-tag, and you can increase your weight limit." More specific information about size, weight and safety and equipment requirements is available in the DMV booklet Virginia's Size, Weight and Equipment Requirements for Trucks, Trailers and Towed Vehi-cles, available on line at dmv.virginia.gov under "Forms and Publications" (Look for "OMV 109") or at local DMV offices. "We're after compliance and safety; we're not out to ticket you.”

Master Trooper C.F. Rosemond Ill, Virginia State Police an the Virginia

Farm Bureau

TODS, Tourist Oriented Directional Sign Program

The Tourist Oriented Directional Sign (TODS) Program is one of four com-ponents for the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Integrated Directional Signing Program (IDSP). The other components of the IDSP include the Specific Travel Service (Logo) Signing Program, the Supple-mental Guide Sign Program, and the General Motorist Service Sign Pro-gram. The TODS Program provides business identification and directional information for certain tourist oriented facilities on non-controlled access primary system highway maintained by the VDOT. Virginia Logos oper-ates the TODS Program throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia under contract with the VDOT.

How to Participate In the TODS Program

1. A representative of Virginia Log-os will call on businesses or fa-cilities who meet the eligibility criteria established by the VDOT. These requirements can be found

on the inside of this brochure. A request for information can also be made by calling Virginia Log-os at 804-754-0970 or 800-229-2809 or on our website www.virginialogos.com .

2. A Virginia Logos representative will explain the program and as-sist all interested facilities in completing an application and other paperwork necessary for their inclusion in the program.

3. Upon submission of the applica-tion and application fee by the fa-cility, Virginia Logos will con-firm that the eligibility criteria is met and complete the necessary site identification.

4. A Virginia Logos representative will contact the facility upon ap-proval of the application.

5. Virginia Logos will then assist in the designing of the TODS panel. Creative design assistance is available at no charge.

6. Virginia Logos will have your facility's TODS panel installed at the appropriate site.

TODS Location, Placement and Size

TODS assemblies will be located on non-controlled access state highways 200' from the intersection or as other-wise designated by the Virginia De-partment of Transportation. TODS assemblies must be spaced 200' apart and 200' from other traffic control devices.

The individual TODS panels are-TODS Assembly 72" wide by 18" high. There are a maximum of four (4) panels per assembly. An approved generic symbol is allowed on the pan-el. No more than three (3) TOD’s as-semblies with four (4) TODS panels each, will be permitted on each ap-proach of an intersection.

Virginia Logos, 10001 Patterson Ave, Suite #201, Richmond, VA 23233, 800-

754-0970, www.virginialogos.com

2013 Harris Interactive Consumer Poll Results

(These are just a portion of the re-sults) • 33.02 million trees were pur-

chased in 2013 • Mean average spent on a tree

$35.30 • Total Retail $ spent on Real

Trees $1,165,641,300 (up from 2012)

• Trees purchased from a farm was 24% in 2012 and increased to 27% in 2013

• More than 60% said tree prices were about the same cost as pre-vious years

• % of Households Displaying: 54% Fake Tree, 18% Real Tree, 29% No Tree

NCTA had a great response to re-porters when asked: "what's the overall state of the industry?"

"It's an interesting time for the indus-try. While there has been some con-solidation and reduction of total farms growing trees, consumer demand is still strong and predicted to get stronger. However, there are challeng-es. Farmers, suppliers and retail out-lets need to work together now more than ever in learning about consumer preferences for both trees and buying experiences. There will always be strong demand for the on-farm, cut your own tree experience. That's an important tradition for many families. But there are also many consumers who would buy a farm-grown real tree each year if offered more choices in trees and more choices in ways to buy one, get it home, get it set up and get it recycled after Christmas."

Provided by Sherrie Taylor, Virginia NCTA Director


Cooperative Extension Releases E-Book

for Entrepreneurs Virginia Cooperative Extension re-cently released a new e-book, “Ques-tion and Answer Guide for Starting and Growing Your Own Business,” to provide Virginia business owners with essential information in an easily ac-cessible way. Scott Tate, senior eco-nomic-development specialist in Vir-ginia Tech’s Office of Economic De-velopment and former Extension community-viability specialist, and Crystal Tyler-Mackey, Virginia Co-operative Extension community via-bility specialist, authored the publica-tion. The e-book covers entrepreneuri-al basics, business plans, legal consid-erations and more. The publication can be accessed on the Virginia Coop-erative Extension publication Web site at http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/. It also is available via Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader and Apple products. The Col-lege of Agriculture and Life Sciences is the first college at Virginia Tech to offer e-books, which complement the hundreds of peer-reviewed publica-tions written by Extension specialists each year. Virginia Cooperative Ex-tension plans to release a new e-book each month. “E-books reflect our commitment to reach larger and more diverse audiences,” said Edwin Jones, director of Virginia Cooperative Ex-tension. “These peer-reviewed publi-cations, written by Extension special-ists, provide another valuable tool for putting knowledge into the hands of the people.” With a network of faculty at two universities, 107 county and city offices, 11 agricultural-research and Extension centers, and six 4-H educational centers, Virginia Coopera-tive Extension “provides solutions to the problems facing Virginians to-day,” officials said.

INSIDENOVA.COM: Arlington

Reading for Christmas Tree Growers

An “all hands on deck” message for VCTGA members to provide articles for the VCTGA newsletter was put out at the annual meeting in Win-chester. This article, in response to the request, is about different kinds of books that should be useful and interesting to prospective Christmas tree growers as well as newer and long-time growers. Before getting into the crux of the narrative, how-ever, I would like to beat around the bush for a while so as not to disap-point Mr. David Huffman.

Prior to retiring from the Federal Reserve Board, it was important for me, and Sharon, to know what I would do with my time following life at the Board. This was especially important because during my career at the Board, I did not have, or make, the time to develop some of the activities that some folks pursue into retirement, such as golf, tennis, traveling, and so forth. In any event, even if I had taken up such activi-ties, there is only so much time one could spend doing such things. After considerable thought and conversa-tions with friends, the idea of grow-ing Christmas trees popped up. However, I knew absolutely nothing about growing and selling Christmas trees, having been educated and working as an economist. I had not even taken so much as a single course in biology, much less horti-culture or plant biology, at any level of my schooling. It was clear that I needed to do some homework, so I read several books on growing Christmas trees and joined the VCTGA three years prior to my re-tirement. Sharon and I reached the conclusion that growing Christmas trees on a small scale seemed like a good fit for our interests and life-style. So, with that digression, I’m more or less done with beating

around the bush and will proceed to beat in the bush.

I will describe different kinds of books (including monographs and manuals) that are relevant to grow-ing Christmas trees. First are the books that should be definitely use-ful to prospective and newer grow-ers. These are much applied and fo-cus on topics directly related to growing trees, such as tree spacing and species to consider growing. The second kind of book I will de-scribe should be useful to growers with any level of experience as well as, perhaps, to prospective growers. These publications focus on the sci-ence underlying what we do as Christmas tree growers including works on horticulture and soil sci-ence. Finally, growers at all levels of experience can benefit a lot from having a good pest manual for refer-ence. Before you yawn and say that this all sounds quite boring, let me mention some of the benefits one can get from reading the kinds of books I will describe even if you are a long-time grower.

1. Especially for newer and pro-spective growers, this is sort of like doing your homework in that you will get a lot more out of formal presentations by ex-perts as well as from informal conversations with experienced growers.

2. This reading will very likely help you avoid making mistakes such as planting trees too close together, planting trees all at one time rather than staggering your planting over the years to ensure a continuing supply of trees once you open up, etc.

3. You will gain the knowledge and confidence to question the conventional wisdom you hear from other growers, or even ex-perts, when it does not seem to jibe with what you have read


about, say, the biological func-tioning of trees.

4. It will help you recognize when you are hearing malarkey, whether the malarkey is coming from another grower, an expert, someone trying to sell you some trees, etc.

5. This should help you develop a strong sense of skepticism when the explanation you receive for doing something is “because we have always done it that way”.

6. These readings will definitely help a grower better understand what our VCTGA experts (think Norm Dart, Eric Day, and Kyle Peer) and invited speakers tell us about. For example, among the latter, Dr. Larry Kuhns, in speaking at our meeting in Win-chester, mentioned the cambium layer of trees and mycorrhizae.

7. In addition to the various bene-fits just noted, some folks are likely to get a lot of satisfaction out of what they learn on their own from reading the kinds of books described below.

Christmas Tree Publications

I will cite and briefly describe five books that focus directly on growing Christmas trees. Not surprisingly, there is quite a bit of overlap in the material covered. But, similar topics are often treated differently, and each book contains information that the others do not, so it is worthwhile reading all of them. To the extent that information is repeated, it is helpful in reinforcing what you have already read. Moreover, the infor-mation does not always agree, and you might not agree with some of what you read having read another source. Nevertheless, it is useful reading about different approaches and perspectives.

Lewis Hill, Growing and Selling Trees, Wreaths, and Greens (Sto-rey Communications, Inc., 1989).

Hill is an experienced tree grower in Vermont and has published several other books on gardening and horti-culture topics. The book is relatively well written, although written in a more casual and conversational style than some of the other books I will mention. It offers a good deal of ad-vice on numerous topics including site selection, greens and wreaths as a source of income, maintaining a transplant bed, harvesting trees, etc. I probably did not agree with advice in this book more so than in the oth-er books, but I still think the book is worth reading.

Arthur G. Chapman and R. D. Wray, Christmas Trees for Pleasure and Profit, 3rd ed. (Rutgers University Press, 1989). Both of the authors had careers related to forestry and thanked numerous technical experts for comments and other input on their book. Not surprisingly, the book has a somewhat more formal tone than the Hill book, but it covers many of the same topics including factors to consider upon entering the business, such as tree spacing, spe-cies to grow, preferred planting sites, and so on. Because this book covers the topics somewhat differ-ently, it provides additional useful information. I would tend to have a little more confidence in this book than the Hill book because of the input the authors received from peo-ple with a range of educational backgrounds relevant to growing Christmas trees as well as both au-thors’ lengthy careers in forestry.

James E. Robinson, ed., Christmas Tree Production Manual (School of Forestry and Wildlife Resources, Virginia Tech, reprinted 1996). This book is an edited collection of 13 papers by various authors, with each author focusing on a specific topic. With only a couple of exceptions, the authors are associated with Vir-ginia Tech and have an educational background relevant to growing Christmas trees. Our own Richard

Kreh co-authored, with S. M. Zeda-ker, the chapter on vegetation man-agement. Like the Chapman and Wray book, this book has a more formal or academic tone than the Hill book. It covers a range of im-portant topics and is well written and easy to read.

Donald B. Hilliker, Jr., Basics of Growing Christmas Trees (Tree-haven Evergreen Nursery, Elma, New York, April 1993). This publi-cation is quite a bit different from the others in that it is a spiral-bound publication put out by the author. There is also a lengthy, separately available compendium to the initial publication that is definitely useful to read. Some of the material is writ-ten by the author, and quite a bit consists of reprinted works of other authors and organizations. This book covers a wider range of topics, some quite narrow (e.g., using two plant-ing strings when laying out new rows of trees), and often goes into greater detail than the other books. I found most of the material to be in-teresting and useful, particularly Hil-liker’s discussion of different tree species and seed sources. This book would have benefited greatly from some heavy editing, if not a com-plete rewrite. Nevertheless, it is a very informative book for tree growers, and I have periodically re-ferred to it. Because this book was published by the author over 20 years ago, it may be difficult to find a copy, but it is worth the effort.

Charles W. Wright, ed., Christmas Trees from Seed to Sale (Tree Pub-lishers, Inc., Lecompton, Kansas, 1992). This monograph was pre-pared by the then editor of Christ-mas Trees magazine. As in the other books, numerous tree topics are cov-ered in various chapters. Apparently, most of the material was written by the editor, but some was written by others. Some of the material offers particularly interesting insights be-cause of the author’s vantage point


as editor and publisher of Christmas Trees magazine. Because the maga-zine is still published, I suspect that you may be able to buy a copy of the monograph.

I benefited from reading all of the five books described; they are hardly diffi-cult, academic treatises. I still occa-sionally refer to the books even though they cover many of the same topics, because they offer different information and insights, and they provide the benefit, at least for me, of repetition. If, however, I had to choose just one of these books for an over-view of growing Christmas trees, I would select the Christmas Tree Pro-duction Manual published by Virginia Tech. However, I would really hate to be constrained to only one book, the others just have too much to offer.

Textbooks

The textbooks I will describe are most likely to be of interest to growers, both new and long-time, rather than to

prospective growers. I am talking about introductory, college-level text-books on plant biology, horticulture, and soil science. Don’t dismiss this reading proposal too quickly. You don’t need to study these books as though you were a student preparing for tests and exams. There are various possible benefits in reading such books. First, you may simply like to understand the basic science and body of knowledge underlying what you are doing in growing Christmas trees. Second, such books are very likely to help you get more out of presentations from some of the guest experts at the VCTGA meetings as well as infor-mation provided by our in-house ex-perts. Third, the sort of knowledge you gain from such books should help you to understand what is going on with your trees when they don’t look right in some way and to independent-ly analyze other issues associated with growing trees. A particularly valuable example from my own experience is that information from textbooks led

me to question and then evaluate care-fully the likelihood that my trees needed to be regularly treated with fertilizer. After looking into some re-search on the benefits of fertilizing Christmas trees (research often finds not much, if any, benefit), and con-ducting little field experiments with fertilizer on my own trees, I concluded that my trees probably did not need additional nutrients. As a result, I have not fertilized our trees since our initial planting in 2001. This amounts to a big saving on fertilizer and labor over those years, thanks entirely to those textbooks, because no one ever sug-gested such a possibility to me. Our trees generally look good and seem healthy. Certainly, if I should see tree problems that appear as though they may be due to a nutrient deficiency, I will experiment with an appropriate fertilizer on a sample of trees. Howev-er, I see no point in regularly applying fertilizer to my trees just because that is what most folks do, or because it is the standard advice given by many

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experts. A similar textbook lesson might apply to you depending on your soil and tree spacing.

Many textbooks on plant biology and horticulture are readily available; I bought mine at a used bookstore. Thus, there is not much point in my suggesting any particular book. How-ever, I think it is worth providing the citation to the soil science textbook. See, Nyle C. Brady and Ray R. Weil, The Nature and Property of Soils, 13th ed. (Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 2002). If I could read a textbook on only one of the subjects, I would choose the soil science textbook. It seemed to have more information that was useful to me as a tree grower than the horticulture and plant biology textbooks. I admit that I did not read all parts of the textbooks with equal care. In fact, I tended to skim the chapters dealing with the nitty-gritty of the chemistry and micro-biology of plants and soils. But there is, of course, a lot more to read in these books that you would likely find in-teresting and useful. You too might, for example, begin to wonder if you should be messing around with the nutrient balance and all those plant-helpful critters and fungi in your soil by throwing on fertilizer, especially if you have decent levels of nutrients in your soil to begin with.

Pest Manual

It seems to me that a good pest manu-al is essential to have as a reference work for every Christmas tree grower from the day they start growing trees. I think the standard reference is Debo-rah G. McCullough, Steven A. Kato-vich, Michael E. Ostry, and Jane Cumming-Carlson, eds., Christmas Tree Pest Manual, 2nd ed. (USDA, Michigan State University Extension, 1998). This spiral-bound manual has a very good, very detailed index at the front that makes it easy for the reader to go directly to the page that deals

with whatever sort of pest problem that you think you observe on your trees, such as needle discoloration, needle feeding, dead or injured shoots, and so on. The manual has very clear, color photos of damaging insects, fruiting bodies of fungi, etc., along with photos of the damage that they cause. In addition, information is pro-vided regarding tree species affected, what you should watch for and when, the basic biology of the insect or dis-ease, and how to control it. This is a must-have book. It may help you fig-ure out tree problems on your own and will help you better understand infor-mation we get from the technical ex-perts who are advisors to the VCTGA--Norm Dart, plant pathologist; Dr. Eric Day, entomologist; and Kyle Peer, tree morphologist and maven.

In conclusion, as you can certainly tell by now, I think prospective and cur-rent growers could benefit a lot from reading the kinds of books described above. I surely did, both as a prospec-tive grower and during my ongoing

years as one of the newer growers. I understand that some of you have read

such books either as a student or inde-pendently, so this review probably

does not offer much guidance to you. But for the rest of the members, this is some really worthwhile reading.

Of course, as all of you members know, the annual VCTGA meetings and periodic workshops are a valuable source of information from guest ex-perts, our in-house experts, and one-on-one conversations with other growers. But, just as the books are not a substitute for the give-and-take dis-cussions that we can have at the meet-ings, VCTGA meetings are not a sub-stitute for the books. These are very much complementary sources of in-formation for growers and prospective growers.

By: Steve Rhoades, Mountain View Farm, Edinburg, VA

[email protected]

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Part 1 of 2

Each year landowners in Virginia consider Christmas tree farming as an alternative enterprise for their unused open land. There is not a lot of detailed information available about the Christmas tree industry in Virginia but it is estimated that there are between 400-500 growers in the state. They can range in size from small choose and cut operations on a few acres of land to large wholesale operations covering hundreds of acres with the average farm being around 40 acres in production. Re-gardless of size, growing Christmas trees successfully takes expertise and an investment of time and capi-tal.

This publication provides a broad overview of Christmas tree produc-tion in Virginia. Potential growers should certainly seek more detailed information from their local Agricul-tural Extension agents and special-ists, as proper planning can be the key to a successful plantation.

Advantages of Growing Christmas Trees

Most agricultural and horticultural crops require larger financial in-vestments and more intensive man-agement than timber production. Christmas tree production is a com-promise between short-term, inten-sively managed agricultural crops and long-term timber production. As such, it shares many of the ad-vantages associated with each type of production:

1. Christmas tree rotations are much shorter than timber rota-tions. It takes six to twelve years to grow a marketable Christmas tree or less for a smaller table top tree. Timber production re-quires 20 to 30 years (or more, depending upon site and tree species). Besides providing in-come sooner, Christmas trees do not tie up land and capital re-sources as long.

2. Christmas trees can be grown economically on small acreages. Timber production and many agricultural crops require large acreages for economic manage-ment. Although there are mar-keting disadvantages associated with very small plantations, Christmas trees can be and are sometimes grown on farms of one acre or less.

3. Christmas trees require less ground cover disturbance than that needed with many agricul-tural crops. Ground vegetation is controlled, not removed, and lit-tle bare ground is exposed. This vegetation helps prevent the ero-sion that commonly occurs with agricultural crops.

4. Capital investment for machin-ery can be low for Christmas tree production. On small acre-ages, all work can be performed with hand-operated machines and tools. Reduced machinery requirements allow production on many sites too rough or steep for other crops.

5. Many growers begin production for reasons other than economic returns. A Christmas tree planta-tion offers the opportunity to get fresh air and exercise while be-ing productive.

Misconceptions of Growing Christmas Trees

1. Growing Christmas trees is easy. As you continue to read through this publication you will under-stand that growing a quality tree will take investments of time, work and money. The tree standing in your house at Christmas is the result of years of commitment from a dedicated farmer.

2. It will be a good use of my mar-ginal land. It is true that trees, especially pines can adapt and survive in a variety of climate and soil conditions. However, as a Christmas tree grower you are not trying to have a tree just sur-vive but instead you need it to thrive. Planting trees in areas that are too wet or dry, or oth-erwise unsuitable, will result in weak, thin trees susceptible to insects and diseases. It is im-portant to remember that as a grower, your product not only represents your farm, but all real Christmas trees. It is critical for the future of the real Christmas tree industry to produce the highest quality tree possible.

3. It is a quick return on invest-ment with a very high rate of re-turn. As we will cover in the next sections, growing Christ-mas trees is an investment in capital and time, and carries the same inherent risks as other types of farming. Unforeseen factors such as climate, disease, insects and market fluctuations can all affect the profitability of the grower.

Christmas Trees as an Investment

The decision to grow or not to grow Christmas trees can be partially de-

An Introduction to Growing Christmas Trees in Virginia


cided by economic considerations. Much time and some money must be invested in order to produce a crop of trees, and it is good to have some upfront idea as to what these time and money requirements are.

Experienced growers estimate that once the trees are above three feet tall, each acre requires about 40 man-hours per year of care. Fur-thermore, many cultural treatments must be done at certain times of the year. Shearing is often confined to a five-week period during early sum-mer; mowing is required as needed throughout the growing season. Fre-quently, growers will plant too many trees and find they must hire outside help in order to keep up with all the cultural practices that need to be done in later years.

There are many costs of producing Christmas trees that must be borne during the early years of the planta-tion. It is not until some trees are

large enough for harvest and sale that a positive cash flow begins.

Production costs can include the following:

• Equipment (mowers, sprayers, shearing equipment, etc.)

• Labor (planting, pest control, shearing, harvesting, etc.)

• Seedlings

• Chemicals (herbicides, insecti-cides, fertilizers, etc.)

• Miscellaneous items (signs, flagging, road maintenance, gates, etc.)

Total costs will often depend upon the size of the operation. For exam-ple, a small grower with less than 10 acres may invest only in a small rid-ing tractor or walk-behind, self-propelled mower; a backpack spray-er, and shearing equipment. Larger growers will need to rely on tractor-

mounted equipment.

Finally, there are no guarantees of high prices at the end of the rotation is there is always the risk of valuable trees succumbing to drought, wild-fire, insects, diseases, and pests.

What type of farm are you going to be?

Christmas tree growers in Virginia have three options when growing and marketing their trees: wholesale, choose and cut and retail lots. We will look at them separately know-ing that some farms may choose multiple options.

Wholesale

Selling Christmas trees wholesale refers to selling large numbers of trees at one time to one or a few buyers. These sales can be a hundred trees to a local civic group or thou-sands to a big box store. These trees are often pre-tagged in the field by height and then broken into quality

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grades with premium or #1 being the best. In Virginia, most wholesale growers are located in the western part of the state and the market is dominated by Fraser fir with Canaan fir and eastern white pine a very dis-tant second. Current wholesale pric-es for Fraser fir (2013) were $26 for #1 and $20 for a lower grade #2 tree. In order to be a successful wholesale species, the tree must be able to be cut, stored and shipped while retain-ing its needles, color and smell. Wholesale growers will earn less income on a per tree basis. They must be aware of the volatility of the market and be able to compete with other well-established growers local-ly and nationally.

Choose and Cut

Choose and cut growers sell single trees to individual customers visiting their farm. These farms have trees of all different sizes and up to 10 dif-ferent species. A choose and cut

farm can be established in all re-gions of Virginia with the species selection varying by location. There are many advantages to being a choose and cut farm. The trees, whether being sold by the foot or by the whole, command higher prices than a similar tree sold wholesale. Furthermore, choose and cut farms can gain significant income by sell-ing wreath, roping, ornaments etc., at an on-site Christmas shop. On these farms selling the Christmas “experience” to the customers can be as important as the tree itself.

Of course, there can be a few disad-vantages for a choose and cut farmer. There is an increased cost associated with managing fields with different species and age classes of trees as compared to wholesalers who tend to manage their fields in large single species even aged blocks. Plus, the sales season for the entire year lasts just 4-5 weeks with 80% of the income coming in the

three weekends between Thanksgiv-ing and Christmas. Bad weather dur-ing this critical time cannot only limit sales but every unsold sellable tree will have to be managed for an-other year.

Retail lot

A Christmas tree farmer may choose to market their trees on a separate retail lot. In this case a grower wants to be in control of their own sales but their farm may be limited by location, access or competition. In a retail lot a grower can demand the highest price per tree but will also have the highest overhead and un-like in wholesale or choose and cut, all unsold trees will be lost.

[Part 2 will be in Winter issue]

Kyle Peer, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Specialist -Christmas

Trees, PO Box 70, Critz, VA 24082,

276-694-4135, [email protected]

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VCTGA News Journal – Spring 2013 Page 25

383 Coal Hollow Rd Christiansburg, VA

24073-6721 540-382-7310

www.Virginia

ChristmasTrees.org

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VCTGA Annual Membership Meeting & Conference

August 15-16 Blacksburg

383 Coal Hollow RdChristiansburg, Va

24073-6721540-382-7310

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Virginia Evergreen News Journal Fall 2014