The Ohio Christmas Tree Industry
Who Are We and Where Are We Going?

Special Circular 158-98

Planting Trends of Ohio Christmas Tree Producers

All Species

Figure 4 shows the total number of Christmas trees planted per year as reported by producers in the 1981 survey (Brown, 1983) and the 1994 survey. Ohio producers planted approximately one million trees each year during the middle 1970s. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, this number increased dramatically, peaking at more than 1.6 million trees in 1982. Although planting estimates are not available for the period 1985 to 1988, data from the two surveys and experience suggest that Ohio producers planted somewhat more than 1.25 million trees annually during the middle and late 1980s. From 1989 until the present there has been a gradual but consistent decline in the number of trees planted each year, with less than one million trees planted annually between 1993 and 1996.

This decline in the total number of Christmas trees planted annually could have important implications concerning the future abundance and availablity of Ohio-grown Christmas trees. In 1993, Ohio producers reported selling 356,000 cut and dug Christmas trees. These trees were, for the most part, harvested from trees planted in the mid 1980s when more than 1.25 million trees were planted each year. Annual planting rates in the mid 1990s have declined to around 900,000 trees. It would appear that unless producers markedly increase the proportion of planted trees they harvest, Ohio-grown Christmas trees sold annually in the next five to 10 years could decrease by as much as 100,000 trees to around 250,000 trees per year.

Individual Species

Figure 5 shows the number of trees of each species producers reported planting annually for the time periods 1977 to 1984 (Brown, 1983) and 1989 to 1996. Figure 6 shows the percentage composition by species of each year's planting for the same time periods. Looking at the two figures together, several trends stand out.

The most dramatic change in the number of Ohio Christmas trees planted annually has been the large decrease in Scotch pine, from a high around 700,000 in 1984, to around 230,000 today. Ohio producers are planting only about one-third as many Scotch pine today as they did in the early 1980s. Scotch pine now constitutes only about one-quarter of the trees planted.

A similar but less precipitous decrease is seen in the number of white pine planted. Today, Ohio producers are planting slightly more than 200,000 white pine per year, somewhat less than half what they planted during the early 1980s. However, for the past five or six years, the proportion of white pine in Christmas tree plantings has been relatively stable, fluctuating between 18 and 23 percent

In contrast to Scotch and white pine, the four single-needle conifers - blue spruce, Douglas-fir, Fraser fir, and West Virginia balsam fir - are becoming more abundant in Ohio Christmas tree plantations. During the late 1970s and the 1980s, the amount of blue spruce planted fluctuated considerably. During the 1990s it has remained relatively stable, generally fluctuating between 160,000 and 180,000 trees annually, and accounting for around 17 percent of the trees planted. The numbers of Douglas-fir and Fraser fir planted each year have both increased substantially in the 1990s, with more than 50,000 Douglas-fir and close to 100,000 Fraser fir now being planted each year. Douglas-fir now accounts for about six percent of the total trees planted and Fraser fir about 10 percent. With the exception of 1994, the amount of Canaan fir planted during the 1990s has been relatively stable, averaging close to 70,000 trees per year, and representing about 6 percent of the total trees planted.

Scotch pine, white pine, blue spruce, Douglas-fir, Fraser fir, and Canaan fir together account for close to 90 percent of the Christmas trees planted in Ohio. In addition to these species, Ohio Christmas tree producers annually plant small amounts of a wide variety of other species that collectively averaged about 118,000 trees per year during the 1990s, and represented between 9 and 12 percent of the total trees planted. The two most commonly planted species in this group have been Norway spruce and Austrian pine. Norway spruce plantings during the 1990s have averaged 49,000 trees per year, ranging from a high in 1989 of 60,916 to a low in 1990 of 36,662 trees, and representing close to 4.5 percent of the total trees planted. By comparison, Brown (1983) reported that Norway spruce consistently accounted for around 3 percent of the total number of trees planted between 1977 and 1984. Austrian pine plantings during the 1990s have averaged 36,000 trees per year, ranging from a high of 50,588 trees in 1990 to a low of 24,888 trees in 1993, and representing slightly less than 3.5 percent of the total trees planted. The remaining plantings have included small amounts of a variety of pines, spruces, and firs, including balsam fir, red pine, white spruce, concolor fir, Serbian spruce, and others.

The data suggest that major changes are occuring in the species composition of Ohio-produced Christmas trees. Producers are planting less pine, particularly Scotch pine, and more single-needle conifers, particularly Douglas-fir and the true firs. It is, in fact, this decrease in Scotch and white pine planting that explains, to a large extent, the overall decrease in total trees planted. While producers have increased the number of other species they are planting, these increases have been much smaller than the decreases in Scotch and white pine.

There are undoubtedly several reasons for these changes in species planted, including a perceived decrease in consumer demand for Scotch and white pine, a perceived increase in consumer demand for single-needle conifers (particularly the firs), increased sales of dug trees (discussed later), and the seemingly ever increasing difficulty of managing Scotch pine pests and producing a quality tree. In Ohio, however, there would seem to be a definite limit to this species shift. A substantial consumer demand for Scotch pine and white pine will continue, and it will be particularly important for choose-and-cut operations to meet this demand or risk the loss of customers. Further, agricultural land in Ohio suitable for economically growing the more site-demanding species such as Douglas-fir and Fraser fir is limited. While the increased availability and use of West Virginia balsam fir (Canaan fir) may increase the acreage planted to firs, much of Ohio's current Christmas tree land will continue to be suitable only for the production of pines or spruces. In fact, the expansion of fir and Douglas-fir planting in some areas may be influenced by the availability and affordability of suitable land not currently in agricultural use.