(MARCUS, IA) It seems like fields all over
Siouxland are dry and damaged from the extreme heat, but not every crop
is in the same boat. A few weeks ago, we told you grapevines are
weathering the drought, and they aren't alone. Christmas trees are
surviving too. We visited a Christmas tree farm today to see just how
well they are doing.
Christmas in August? Not exactly, but it sure
looks that way at Country Pines Tree Farm, where they have about 4,000
trees decorating 5 acres of land. Owner Marie Bork says the trees
they'll sell this year are just fine.
"We
got really good moisture last fall and that kinda brought them through
the winter and in the spring they were ready to take on some moisture,
and we had some nice rain early, it's just that it stopped in June," she
said.
And for the bigger, Scotch pine trees, that's OK because they only grow until the beginning of July.
"We
have enough rain for those trees to continue, the larger ones, but the
small ones, we have done some hand watering with gallon pails, but the
ground was so hard we had to break up the dirt around them," Bork said.
But
even that didn't work. Bork estimates they lost most of their
seedlings this year, which means you may see the effects of this drought
7 to 8 years from now when you go to purchase a Christmas tree. She
says that's how long it usually takes one of these trees to mature.
Fortunately, Bork says they planned ahead.
"Usually we plant about 400 seedlings but we got an extra 500 now," she said.
And since each tree grows at its own pace, Marie thinks they may be able to catch up.
"Some grow really fast and maybe in 5 years they are ready to sell," she said.
Even though the drought affected seedlings
planted this season, the older trees that will be sold this winter have
strong, established root systems and are still evergeen.
