PITTSFIELD – Maine Christmas tree growers, at the peak of their sales and harvest this week, said two populations are giving their industry a jump-start – Thanksgiving visitors and hunters.

“We live at the bottom of St. Albans Mountain,” grower Louise Barden said Tuesday,” and many hunters pass by our farm on their way to their hunting camps. They stop on their way back home and get a tree, wreaths, garlands. Those from out of state say it’s like bringing some of Maine home with them.”

But the bottom line, said Barden, is freshness and cost. “Many of our hunters are from Massachusetts and they say it is so much cheaper to buy their tree here than at home.”

According to Allan Stadig, president of the Maine Christmas Tree Association, a Maine tree usually costs $20. “That’s for a good tree,” he said. But the same tree, sold in Massachusetts or Connecticut, can top $50.

“It may be nice to think they are bringing Maine trees home for sentimental reasons,” said Stadig, “but in reality it is because they are half the cost here.”

Walter Gooley, a tree farmer in Farmington who is also a member of the Legislature’s Agriculture Committee, said folks at his “choose-and-cut” operation are “definitely shopping for price.” He has been selling Christmas trees since 1979 and said he has seen a steady increase in out-of-state customers. “Most of our customers are from Massachusetts and Connecticut,” Gooley said.

George Tinkham of East Sebago said he also has found a niche market in Thanksgiving visitors. “People come from out-of-state to visit family for Thanksgiving and they take their trees back with them. There is nothing like a Maine Christmas tree.”

Tinkham said this year was a good year in southern Maine for Christmas tree growth.

“It’s a big state. In the south we did pretty good; in the north, it depended on the weather,” said Tinkham.

Fred Banks of Dexter agreed. “All in all it was a very good year,” said Banks, who wholesales all of his 3,000 cut trees annually to Maine Christmas tree stands and farm stands.

Maine’s Christmas tree industry is estimated to bring in $6 million annually to farmers with about 450,000 trees sold each holiday season. It is estimated that 10 times that number are in the growing stages of development.

A tree averages about a foot of growth per season, Tinkham said, making it an eight-year cycle from planting to harvest; a 15-year cycle from seed to harvest.

Farmers that have a farm of 5,000 trees harvest only about 500 annually.

Tinkham said the association has about 165 members and that represents “about half of what is growing out there.” By far the majority of Maine Christmas tree farmers have stands of far fewer than 5,000 trees.

inkham’s tree farm is operated as a retail facility, selling trees and wreaths, but Tinkham said most large Christmas tree growers are marketing out-of-state.

“Just look at the numbers. There are only a million people in Maine,” said Tinkham. “The reality is that we can get a better price out-of-state.”

According to Thomas Nims of the New England Christmas Tree Alliance based in Massachusetts, Maine is in a very good position to capture much of New England’s holiday tree market.

“Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island growers are all sold out. They were sold out in September. Now it is up to Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to supply the rest of New England.”

He said the shortage of available trees in southern New England “comes down to pure numbers. There are a lot more people than trees.”

Deanne Herman of the Maine Department of Agriculture said the Christmas tree industry is important to Maine’s agricultural economy; so important the association received a $3,000 state grant in January to market its Web site (www.mainechristmastree.com).

“Maine agriculture is incredibly diverse,” Herman said Tuesday. “Christmas trees are definitely an agricultural commodity and niche product. Maine Christmas trees are of excellent quality and are good or better than those found elsewhere.”

“It is important to remember,” said Herman, “that Christmas trees are a crop that is planted and grown. These farmers are not going into the forest and cutting trees. Their trees are specifically cultivated for their quality.”

To further promote the industry, the Maine Christmas Tree Association has been funding genetic research at Western Maine Nurseries to develop what Herman calls “super trees,” which grow uniformly and quickly and are disease-resistant.

“These trees and this industry do much for Maine’s environment,” said Herman, noting that 45 million Christmas trees provide beauty, wildlife habitat and oxygen generation.

“It is an important industry,” said Herman.

For this year’s harvest, weather did not play a large role, said the growers. Tinkham said although southern Maine had more rain than northern Maine, it looks like it will be a fine harvest. He said his trees look great this year, while Barden said her trees “have a lot of good color this year.”

Stadig said, “The weather’s been great this year, especially since we’ve started cutting. The trees look great, too. It was a good year.”

For a county-by-county listing of Maine’s Christmas tree farms, information is available by calling the Maine Department of Agriculture at 287-3491 and requesting a brochure that lists growers, or online at www.getrealmaine.com.