Tree farms thrive against artificial rivals ‘Choose and cut’ share of market growing even as fake evergreens make big sales gains

DAYTON – As Kevin Houde wielded the saw, his 4-year-old son Cameron squatted on the ground beside him. Working as a team, they made a clean cut at the base of the 7-foot tree that will mark the Christmas season in their home this year.

Family members hollered “timber” as the fragrant balsam fir toppled to the ground. Standing a few feet away, Cameron’s mother, Meghan, captured the Norman Rockwell moment on video.

Millions of other Americans, however, aren’t as enamored with the idea of a freshly cut tree. They’ll either drag their artificial trees down from the attic or head to a store to grab a manmade evergreen.

The trend gets a “bah humbug” from the live tree industry, which has seen its market share plummet for well over a decade.

“If people would only realize where these artificial trees are made – in Third World countries,” said Clement Meserve, who is also quick to remind people that plastic trees are not biodegradable. A sign at his Boiling Spring Tree Farm brags at how live trees help counter greenhouse gases and clean up the atmosphere.

As time-strapped buyers forgo natural trees for the artificial variety, Meserve’s “choose and cut” farm, where the scent of balsam lingers in the air, represents a segment of the live tree business that’s holding its own.

By offering hot chocolate, cookies and rides in carts pulled by tractors or horses, tree farms have attracted families who make a holiday tradition of their trip to the countryside to pick out a tree.

Cutting a tree hearkens back to a time when people wandered into the woods, felled a tree and hauled it home. “People were stealing them back then,” Meserve said. “They just didn’t realize it was called theft.”

The “choose and cut” share of the live tree market jumped from 29 percent in 2000 to 35 percent in 2003, according to industry figures. Chain stores had big gains and stands run by charities remained level while local retail lots saw their share tumble by more than half.

Overall, though, it has been more than a decade of rough sledding for the nation’s Christmas tree growers.

In 1990, 35.4 million households put up real trees and 36.3 million displayed artificial trees, according to a consumer survey by the National Christmas Tree Association. A decade later, the split was 32 million live and 50.6 million artificial.

Since 2000, sales of natural trees have dropped even more sharply, from 27.8 million in 2001 to 23.4 million last year.

During that period, artificial tree sales have risen from 7.3 million to 9.6 million amid improvements in their quality.

The first artificial Christmas trees were made in Germany from goose feathers during the 1880s amid worries about the demise of fir forests. America’s first fake trees were produced 50 years later by the Addis Brush Co. with the machinery it used to make toilet brushes.