82-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 14,1985
Rows ef Yule trees stripe Delta
BY JOYCE BUPP
Staff Correspondent
DELTA - From the rolling hills
that wrap around the classic bank
barn and roomy house on the
Joseph Kilgore farm, the air feels
fresh, clear, clean. But through the
refreshing outdoor scents of damp
grass and moist soil hangs another
fragrance.
Unmistakably, it’s the smell of
Christmas.
Joseph Kilgore is a Christmas
tree grower. Corn and hay crops,
feed for the Guernseys once housed
in the lower level of the barn, have
been replaced with precise rows of
pine, fir and spruce that stripe the
hillside like lines of silent sen
tinels.
A modest and quiet-spoken man,
Kilgore recalls that he never really
planned on getting into this
sideline. What he did was to simply
plant a few evergreens some years
ago on a bit of farmland not
suitable for growing field crops.
In time, the seedlings matured to
Christmas tree size, and Kilgore
sold a few one holiday season.
When it proved to be an enjoyable
venture, he opted to plant a few
more, this time setting out the
planting on spine of the farm’s
better soils.
That was 15 years ago. Each
spring now finds him carefully
planting between two and three
hundred baby evergreens over the
twelve acres of trees.
What is more fascinating is that
Patti Hushon and her husband, Dan, rent the Kilgore
farm's dairy facilities and lend a hand with the Christmas tree
sales. She is especially fond of the lovely hollies that Joseph
has grown from seed on his Delta farm.
From high on the hill above the Kilgore farm, Joseph can scan the 12 acres planted to
pines, firs and spruces.
most of the seedlings, now tran
splanted each year, are started
from seed by the retired dairyman.
While Christmas trees are a
relatively hardy crop, growing
them from seed takes extra at
tention. It begins with the harvest
of the cones, a sort of art in itself.
Cones, the seed pods of
evergreens, ripen at different
times in the various species.
Scdtch pines, perenially popular
Christmas tree type, have cones
ready for harvest after the
December holidays. Seeds of the
fir species mature in late summer.
And while Scotch pines yield seeds
annually, species like white pine
and Douglas fir only set seed every
three or four years.
“And when the seeds are ready,
you’d better get them off,” Kilgore
advises from experience.
It takes warmth to coax the
cones open, which allows the
seeds, located near the center, to
loosen and fall from the cone
segments. Large commercial
firms, like the Weyerhauser paper
corporation, have specialized
equipment for cone harvest. In
commercialized harvesting, the
cones are heated and tumbled to
remove the seeds.
After harvesting the cones,
Kilgore stores the fresh seed in a
cold, dry location until corn
planting season. Then it goes into
specially prepared, raised nursery
beds maintained near the entrance
to Kilgore’s evergreen acreage.
grower's fields
Before planting, nursery beds
are sterilized by pouring a com
mercial product over the well
dampened soil. Sterilization
eliminates many of the weed
seeds, and helps to control the
seedling disease damp-off.
Germination of evergreen seeds
is a sporadic occurence. Some
Scotch pine seeds might sprout
within two weeks, while others
continue to show through the
ground for many weeks afterward.
Some may even lay dormant for a
year before poking tiny green
needles through the nursery bed
soil.
Such irregularity of seed
sprouting underscores a key to the
personality of tree growers: it
.akes a person of patience and
farsightedness to crop trees. This
harvest is not ready in a few
months time-or even a few years.
Scotch pine seedlings remain in
the nursery beds for two years.
Other species usually grow there a
year longer.
When transplanting size, several
inches high, is reached, the
seedlings are moved to their
permanent field location. A short
stub, remains of the trunk of its
predecessor, may mark the
planting spot. Kilgore prefers to
plant as early in spring as possible
in ground that is uniformly moist,
not overly wet or dry.
After three more years of field
growth, young trees may need an
initial trimming to eliminate a
double top. By the following
season, they will have matured to a
size to be included in the annual
overall trimming that determines
the traditional Christmas tree
shape, with compact and full
branches.
“No more that a foot between
sets of branches is what you
want,” the tree grower recom
mends. “I try not to cut anything
but the new growth.”
Trimming therefore must be
worked at the right time of year, to
encourage young growth and
branching in the proper direction.
Pines are pruned from the middle
of June through the middle of July,
while spruce and fir type can be
left for a bit later in the season.
Even after trimming chores
evergreen plantings demand at
tention. Clipped grass can make
the difference between healthy and
sickly trees, since tall grass
growth inhibits air movement and
thus encourages diseases.
A specialty walk-behind mower,
for use in high grasses, is Kilgore’s
trimming tool. On just one hillside
planting, the hundred rows of trees
run a length of about a quarter
mile and are mowed at least four,
sometimes five times each sum
mer. A quick guess by Kilgore is
that he walks about fifty miles
each time he mows the tree
planting.
After a few years in the nursery beds, Joseph Kilgore’s
evergreen seedlings are thick with needles and ready for
transplanting to permanent field locations.
half-inch above the ground, eliminating stump leftovers and
giving customers plenty of trunk for fastening in holders.
Sometimes he gets a hand from man's best friend.
Spending that much time with
the tree crop lends a side benefit.
Kilgore can keep careful watch on
the planting, even though he has
never yet found it necessary to
spray for disease or pest in
festation.
“But bagworms are sometimes a
problem,” he adds. “If I see a tree
with bagworms while I’m mowing,
I just stop and pick them off.”
Locating evergreen plantings on
sloping ground further aids air
movement. A fairly rich soil
enables the trees to grow and look
their best, and Kilgore adds that
Christinas tree species will not do
well in heavy, clay-like ground.
Weather extremes can create
problems, as occurred two years
wmesfead
c H/Sifis
ago, when a dry summer was
followed by a bitter cold winter.
Young trees were especially
susceptible. Some died, and the top
growing leader froze in many'
more. While a new growing tip can
be directed through trimming, that
adds another year or two to the
tree’s harvest maturity.
Wildlife cause relatively few
problems, although rabbits may
nibble off tender seedlings and
deer occasionally damage one side
of a tree by rubbing against the
branches.
Kilgore and his sister Dorothy, ,
who also lives on the farm, often
use such trees for their own
holiday decoration. In fact, a
slightly one-sided pine or fir may
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