Christmas Trees
(Continued From Page 1)
popular tree variety, Frey said,
“We sell more Scotch pine than
anything else, but I think we’re
going to get out of Scotch pines.
They take more work than any
other tree. Scotch pines mature
in about eight years. They grow
faster, which means they have to
be sheared more often. And the
price we get for a Scotch pine is
usually less than we get for a
Douglas fir or a blue spruce.
“Another bad thing about
Scotch pine, at least from the
grower’s viewpoint, js that out of
a hundred seedlings, we’ll only
get 75 saleable trees. Some of the
other varieties will yield almost
100 percent. Scotch pines might
give a new grower a quicker
return for his money, but in the
long run I don’t think it’s the best
tree to grow.”
In addition to Scotch pine, the
Freys have Douglas fir, white
pine, Austrian Pine, blue spruce
and white spruce.
One uncommon variety Frey is
experimenting with could be
called a super tree, but its real
name is the Frazer fir. It’s a soft
needle tree, it doesn’t shed and it
retains its freshness for two or
three months.
Growing trees in Lancaster
County is a little different from
growing in the northern part of
the state. “Good farmland is good
for trees, too,” Frey says. “In the
northern counties, a single
grower might have hundreds of
acres planted to trees, but the
land is usually worthless for
anything else. We grow nicer
trees on our place, but we’ve got
to shear them more often.”
The Freys don’t fertilize their
trees. They do spray the ground
with Simazine every spring,
though, to control weeds. Too
many weeds can choke out
seedlings in a hurry. They have
some problems with diseases,
bugs and birds, but these attack
mostly young trees. When a crisis
occurs, the Freys are quick to
call on the experts at the Penn
sylvania Christmas Tree
Growers Association, of which
they are members.
Rabbits are one of Frey’s
biggest headaches.“ They don’t
Lancaster County’s largest Christmas
tree farm is located just outside Willow
Street. For the past twelve years, Ralph
Frey and his family have carefully nurtured
their 34 acres of evergreens. Trimming,
hurt the larger trees, but when
snow is on the ground, rabbits
can just about wipe out a stand of
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 4,1972
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seedlings. They hop along the trees just can’t recover from that
rows, bite off the tops of the trees lujyj 0 f treatment.”
and suck out the sap. And the
Growing for the Christmas tree market is a business that
demands an abundance of patience, skill and work. These
well tended trees were grown by Ralph Frey.
Special Calf and
Feeder Cattle Sale
Farmers Livestock Exchange, inc.
Winchester, Va.
Thursday, November 16,-7:00 P.M.
_ Please have eaHle in by 4:00 P.M. on day of Sale
—Consign Your Cattle to This Sale
Lindy Heironimus, Mgr.
Phone (703) 667-1023
spraying, planting and sound management
have resulted in a profitable farm en
terprise which is just little out-of-the
ordinary for this area.
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