REAL CHRISTMAS TREES ARE STILL IN DEMAND

When it comes to Christmas, real trees are still in demand.Friday marked the official start of the holiday shopping season and the sale of Christmas trees.At Meier Horse Shoe Pines on County Road 330 near Jackson, a steady stream of customers boarded wagons pulled by Belgian horses for the short trek to the field of Christmas trees.Customers could tag their chosen trees or have the trees immediately cut and hauled back on the wagons to the parking lot.Teresa and Steve Meier operate the Christmas tree farm. They have about 14 acres of Christmas trees and have been selling Christmas trees for 11 years.Meier is president of the Missouri Christmas Tree Producers, an organization of about 66 tree farmers throughout the state. Teresa Meier said they expect to sell about 500 to 600 trees this year, most of them Scotch pine. "We have six to eight different varieties of Scotch pine," she said. They also grow and sell Virginia and white pines.Teresa Meier said it isn't easy operating a Christmas tree farm. "It's a lot of hard work. It's a year-round job," she said.Steve Meier said it takes at least six years to grow trees large enough to sell.State Rep. David Schwab, R-Jackson, used to run a Christmas tree farm, but closed it in order to spend more time with his family.There are plenty of artificial trees on the market, but Meier said real trees will always be in demand."I don't believe it will ever completely go out of style," he said.The National Christmas Tree Association says Americans annually buy 33 million evergreens for the holiday season.When Meier isn't working on the farm, he is busy with his duties as postmaster at Altenburg.But the Christmas tree farm remains a labor of love for the Meiers and their three sons."It's fun," said Teresa Meier as she worked behind the counter at the Christmas tree shop on the farm. The smell of fresh pine filled the air."Everybody enjoys the atmosphere," she said.Even the trimmings from the trees get used. "We do lots of fresh wreaths. We don't have anything go to waste," she said.The trees weren't the only attraction for Hannah Duncan, 10, of Columbia, who visited the Meier farm with relatives. "I like riding on the horses," she said.Trees at the Meier farm sell for $3.50 to $3.75 a foot.At tree farms and tree lots, prices are similar, in the $20 range for a 6-foot Scotch pine and in the $30 range for an 8-foot tree.A 12-foot Douglas fir at Kinder's Tree Works tree lot in the Schnucks parking lot in Cape Girardeau costs $100 or more.Dave Kinder, who owns the business, sells about 1,000 to 1,500 Christmas trees each year. About 1,000 trees are currently stocked on his lot.Fraser firs are popular trees with some customers. But they aren't cheap. An 8-foot Fraser fir sells for about $60."They grow real slow," he said. It takes 16 years for a Fraser fir to grow to a height of 8 feet.In contrast, a Scotch pine can grow a foot a year, he said.It's not just the tall trees that are popular. Kinder has about 200, 3-foot to 5-foot evergreens on his lot. The table-top trees sell for $10 to $15."I ran out last year," he said of the short trees.Kinder gets his trees from Michigan. The trees in his lot were cut a week ago.That's important, he said, because people want trees that will last through the holidays.Not surprisingly, Kinder has no use for artificial trees. "They don't have that smell," he said.

TREE TIPS

Cut Christmas trees last longer in homes if the trunks are kept in water.The bottom of the trunk should be re-cut at home so the tree can absorb moisture. A 10-foot tree can absorb a gallon of water a day for the first week after it is cut.