Of the roughly 30 million real trees sold in the U.S. each year, about 25 percent are harvested in Oregon, 11 percent in North Carolina, and ten percent in Michigan. The rest come from all over the country.
While just about every pine, fir and spruce is held exotic position of family Christmas tree, the most commonly used are the Balsam, Fraser and Douglas firs.
Eric : This is the field of a Douglas fir Christmas trees here. They are 2 years old, and in this particular block there are twenty-three or four million.
The trees grow in the fields for about eight to ten years to reach maturity. Once every growing season, a shearing team moves through the field, expertly swinging their blades.
For shearing Christmas trees you need 3 main pieces of equipment, a machete, clippers, and leg protector.
On this particular tree, we have the top sprouted with the bamboo. That's just to provide a nice straight leader for the tree. And we just follow that line from the top all way down. When you share a Christmas tree you have to assess each tree as an individual. It's kind of like a haircut.
Not everybody looks good with the same haircut.
Then it's time to cut them down, using a chain saw, with a safer and faster bow bar. And next, mechanical shakers knock the excess needles off the tree. Finally, the trees are sent to the baler to be trussed in twine. And then loaded on the refrigerated trucks for delivery across North America -- to a tree lot near you.
