Long Island Christmas trees in 'tight supply,' shop early for best varieties, experts say

For 52 years, Edward Dart has been selling live Christmas trees.

And while this season figures to be his last, Dart, 72, said he’s got hundreds of trees available at his spread, Dart’s Christmas Tree Farm on Main Bayview Road in Southold — and he’s looking forward to Black Friday, when the season starts in earnest.

“The first trees I planted were when I was in high school, maybe even earlier than that,” Dart said, noting he first approached his parents about planting trees before he left to attend the University of Rhode Island in 1967. “We did everything the old-fashioned way, before it all became automated, modernized and mechanized. A lot of places, they want trees that are uniform in shape. To me, that’s lacking personality. We specialize in trees that have personality.”

While at least one long-standing seller recently told Newsday he wouldn’t open this year due to a shortage, the National Christmas Tree Association said there will be “a tight supply” of live trees this season, but shoppers will be fine.

Just plan to get your tree early.

“If you have a specific size of tree or kind of tree you want, it’s a good idea to shop early — when there’s still a wide-range of selection,” association spokeswoman Jill Sidebottom said.

Don't believe the rumors

Vendors said rumors are that climate change, Canadian wildfires and excessive rain have all impacted tree availability. Truth is, none of that is true, Sidebottom said. As several Long Island Christmas tree farmers and sellers told Newsday, Sidebottom said it was the recession of about a decade ago that has impacted tree numbers this year — since the growth cycle of a tree is generally seven to 10 years.

“The market kind of cycles through undersupplies and oversupplies,” she said, “and when it was in oversupply and there was economic downturn — well, that cut into the availability of seedlings, because people weren’t planting. Inflation and the rise in the cost of living are factors, too … But, for New York State, we believe the market is pretty much normal. There’s trees out there.”

Lee Itzler of Elwood Christmas Tree Farm on East Jericho Turnpike in Huntington said he planned years ago to have enough trees.

“If you cut back on planting back in the recession eight, nine, 10 years ago — which, no coincidence — is how long it takes to grow a tree, then maybe you’ve got a problem," Itzler said. "But, if you thought long term back then and said, ‘Now’s the time to actually plant more trees … ’ ”

"Let’s just say I have plenty of really nice trees," he said.

The manager at Santa’s Christmas Tree Farm on Main Road in Cutchogue, Toni Ann Sinning, said they have about 10,000 trees on site, all in different stages of growth, and said through long-established connections she was able to snag additional cut trees at the eleventh hour — a shipment originally bound for a farm that won’t be selling this season.

“It was not easy to get trees,” Sinning said. “But we’re prepared. We have an inventory we’re comfortable with. And I have a field ready to cut.”

Want a fresh-cut tree?

Many of the dozen or so farms selling live trees allow buyers to select and cut their own on the fields, though some, citing liability, will only allow buyers to do so if they bring their own saw.

Other farmers will cut a tree for you — or have precut live trees available for purchase.

While some farmers admit their prices might be higher than those at many of the big-box stores, they say it isn’t cheap to grow trees on Long Island — and that the quality and freshness at local farms often are superior to those of the big-box alternatives.

Most of the Christmas tree farms contacted by Newsday declined to share the price of their available trees, citing competition. But on its website, Santa’s Christmas Tree Farm states most available trees are between 6 and 7 feet tall, starting at $100. Meanwhile Matt’s Christmas Tree Farm, located on Weeks Avenue in Manorville, states on its website that it has more than 10,000 trees ranging from 2 to 8 feet tall, at $15 per foot.

By comparison, Home Depot lists 5-to-6-foot Douglas fir trees priced at $89.97, while Lowe's lists 3-to-4-foot “tabletop trees” at about $60, 8-foot balsam trees at $73 and 6-to-7-foot noble firs at $289.

Many private farmers said the big-box stores' prices are set rock-bottom because their goal is to get buyers into the store — so they can sell them lights, tinsel and ornaments, as well as nonholiday items.

Buying a tree from a big retailer isn't the same as the tradition offered by the farm-fresh varieties.

“I’m from a generation when we had fake aluminum trees,” Sidebottom said. “But the thing about real trees is the family experience. That every year is different, going out and finding that tree this year, how it will look, how you’ll decorate it. It becomes about those memories.”

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”