ChristmasTrees

Production
Growing Christmas trees in the Pacfic Northwest. Revised June 2003. Chal Landgren, Rick Fletcher, Mike Bondi, Dan Barney, and R. Mahoney, Oregon State University. A 40-page review of the Northwest's industry, has color plates of the predominant species.

An Introduction to Growing Christmas Trees, 1999, Mike Bondi, Oregon State University, Extension Service.

Trees Against the Wind. Revised Feb. 2003. Don Hanley, WSU Extension Forester, WSU Extension Publications. An excellent 40-page color publication detailing how to build wind breaks around tree farms in order to protect the Christmas trees from windy conditons. Type in PNW 0005 under the Search box.. Not on-line. Cost: $8.

The Christmas Tree: Traditions, Production, and Diseases. 2000. Gary Chastagner, from Plant Health Progress, excellent review of North American Christmas Tree industry with a slant towards diseases.

Developing High Quality True Fir Christmas Trees, 1993, Chal Landgren, Oregon State University, Extension Service. The best production guide for Northwest Nobles.

Developing Sheared Douglas-fir Christmas Trees. 1993. Chal Landgren, OSU Extension. The best guide for Douglas-firs.

Growing Christmas Trees in North Carolina, 1995, a good on-line guide to tree growing (includes our Northwest Fraser Fir), in PDF format, 30 pages, takes time to download.

Christmas Tree Notes Catalog, North Carolina State University, a whole collection of different pages devoted mainly to Fraser fir production, some with color plates.

Pruning and Shearing
Shearing and Culturing Christmas Trees, a 1 hour, 8 minute video, produced by Oregon State University in 1992, VTP 005. Excellent advice for Noble fir growers. Cost: $33.00.

Boughs
Harvesting and Marketing Noble Fir Boughs from Christmas Tree Plantations. 1998. Jim Freed, WSU Extension, and Chal Landgren, OSU Extension.

Fertilization
Christmas tree nutrient management guide for western Oregon and western Washington. February 2004. Oregon State University Publications. A excellent over-view of nutient managment for Northwest Christmas tree growers. This is a 30 page PDF file, so it is very slow to load.

Seedlings
Forest tree nurseries in Washington and adjacent states. EB 790. Washington State University Extension.

Webster State Forest Nursery. 2004. Washington State Department of Natural Resources. This site lists the availability of conifers from the DNR. It explains the various categories of seedlings.

Selecting and buying quality seedlings, R.E. Duddles, and C.G. Landgren, Oregon State University, EC 1196, reprinted 1999, 12 pages in PDF format.

The care and planting of tree seedlings on your woodland, M. Elefritz, et al., Oregon State University, December 1998, 12 pages in PDF format.

Pest Management
PNW Insect Management Handbook, 2003, Oregon State University. Look-up the section on Christmas trees for a complete description of the various insect pests.

Crop profile for Northwest Christmas Trees, 1997, USDA Office of Pesticide Policy, Crop Profile for Oregon Christmas Trees.

Insect Management
Biology and control of Douglas-fir needle midge in Christmas trees. 1994. Oregon State University Extension publications. EC 1373.

Insect pests of Christmas trees. Eric Day, Virginia Cooperative Extension. Very good jpeg images; some of these insects don't pertain to the Pacific Northwest.

Disease Management
Sudden oak death. A new conifer disease that has been found in California, and most recently in southwest Oregon, but not on Dougla fir.

Fungal disease of true firs attacking Christmas trees. June 28, 2002. John Schmitz, the Capital Press.

On-Line Guide to Plant Disease Control, 2001, Oregon State University, Department of Plant Pathology. Type in the word Fir to bring up pictures of Christmas tree diseases.

Susceptibility of intermountain Douglas-Fir to Rhabdocline needle cast when grown in the Pacific Northwest. 2001. Gary Chastagner. Washington State University. Plant Health Progress.

Animal management
Controlling vole damage to conifer seedlings. August 1992. R.E. Duddles. Oregon State University. EC 1256.

Controlling pocket gopher damage in conifer seedlings. Revised 2003. D.S. deCalesta, Oregon State University, EC 1255.

Backpack sprayer calibration
Calibrating and using backpack sprayers. 1996. Chal landgren. Oregon State University.

WSU Christmas Tree Research Newsletter
Summer 2002, Joe Hudack, WSU Puyallup
Fall 2001, Joe Hudack, WSU Puyallup
Spring 2001, Joe Hudack, WSU Puyallup
Winter 2000, Joe Hudack, WSU Puyallup.

Weed control
Pacific Northwest Weed Management Handbook, 2002, Oregon State University. The entire Handbook is entirely on-line.

Managing weeds and vegetation in Christmas trees. Revised 1995. PNW Publications, PNW 219.

View herbicide labels on line, CDMS (Crop Data Management Systems, Inc. )

Labor contractor
L & M Christmas Tree Service, Luis Villanueva, 1824 Shamrock Lane, Centrallia, WA , Home phone: 360-330-5760, cell phone: 360-520-1577. Mr. Villanuueva will arrange his crew to plant, shear, flag trees, and harvest and bail trees.

Industry consultants
Evelyn Casella (formerly E. Davidson) Christmas tree consultant, Christmas Creek Ranch, 3017 NE 389th St., La Center, WA 98629, home phone: 360/ 263-2470, cell phone: 360/ 606-1119, e-mail: christmascreek2@aol.com.

Dan Green, Christmas tree consultant, Woodland Management Inc., Kruse Woods 1 Building Suite 468, 5285 S.W. Meadows Rd Lake Oswego, OR 97035, 503-684-4004, e-mail: dan@woodlandmgmt.com, http://www.woodlandmgmt.com/

John Tillman, Christmas tree consultant for Northwest Plantations, also associate editor for the Pacific Northwest Lookout magazine, 17717 Pendleton St. SW, Rochester, WA 98579, 360-273-8047.

Dennis Tompkins, consulting forester, 324 Sumner Ave., Sumner, WA, phone: 253/ 863-7469, e-mail: dlt@blarg.net.

Licensing
Nursery & Christmas Tree Grower Licensing: Who Must Comply? 1999. Oregon Department of Agriculture. All Oregon growers with more than 1 acre of Christmas trees for out-of-state shippment need to have a Christmas Tree Growers License.

Convert Christmas trees to forests
Converting Christmas trees to forest takes thinning over time. Tiffany Woods, The Capital Press Newspaper, April 19, 2002. Describes how to convert an abandoned Christmas tree stand into productive timber over time.

Retail lot insurance
Keelson Partners Insurance and Risk Management, 2002, 1220 SW Morrison, Suite 400, Portland, OR 97205-2223, phone: 503-226-1422, e-mail: christmas@keelson.com. One of the principal players in providing farm insurance for retail lots, and Choose and Cut operations.

Industry Facts

Percentage of homes in America with 'real trees' vrs. 'fake trees'. 2002. National Christmas Tree Association.

Christmas trees: Facts and Legends, 1999, National Christmas Tree Association.

Marketing

Trends portend slump in sales of holiday trees. Jonathon Brinkman, the Oregonian, October 26, 2004
l
State's Christmas tree business slowly growing, December 2003, Steve Whilhelm, Puget Sound Business Journal.

Christmas tree demand exceeds supply, says WSU. Ron Hoss, the Capital Press, October 4, 2002.

Northwest Christmas tree growers reap 2001 tree harvest worth $208 million, John Schmitz, June 28, 2002, The Capital Press.

Industry: Christmas tree demand for 2002 strong, June 28, 2002, John Schmitz, The Capital Press.

Contracts for Woodland Owners and Christmas Tree Growers, 1998, Oregon State University Cooperative Extension, EC 1192.

Associations
Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association. The principal marketing organization for Northwest producers. This organization publishes the Lookout magazine, the annual Buy/Sell Directory, hosts a fall TreeFair, sponsors a winter workshop, and a summer tour, and works extensively with the local Chambers of Commerce to distribute the Cut and Choose Directory. Membership dues each year: $175.

National Christmas Tree Association, St. Louis, MO. The National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA) strives to be one voice representing Christmas Tree professionals and promoting the use of Real Christmas Trees. More than 5,100 professionals support NCTA programs through membership; participation (through their state association) in the Tree Industry Partnership (TIP) Campaign and/or individual investments in the RealTree Promotion & Marketing Campaign.

Southwest British Columbia Christmas Tree Growers Association.

North Carolina Christmas Tree Association, Boone, North Carolina.

Photography
John Deere 4100 Narrow series tractor with Rears PacBlast sprayer for Christmas trees, taken summer of 2001, at Hunter Christmas Tree Farm in Mossyrock, Washington.

Healthy Noble firs one year away from harvest, taken summer 2001, 266k image, landscape format.

NobleFir foliage, taken summer 2001, 269k image, landscape, high quality.

Grand Fir at 2001 Northwest Christmas Tree Trade Fair, September, 2001, 126k image, portrait format.

Grand Fir out in the field. Summer, 2001. 142 k image, portrait.

Douglas Fir foliage. large image, high quality, from National Christmas Tree Association photo stock files (look under Media to find stock photos).

Douglas Fir foliage. Very high quality image (3.94 meg) taken by Charles Brun, use for backgrounds.

USDA Grade Standards
Unitied States Standards for Grades of Christmas trees. 1989. United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service.