171250_VCTGA_WinterNL_2019_PROOF

There appeared to be many more news articles about Christmas tree farms and VCTGA members this year. Keep up the great work! This season brought a new rise in online sales of Christmas trees by Home Depot and Amazon. Home De- pot sold 5-6’ trees directly from Holi- day Tree Farms, Oregon, for $103.98, 6-6 ½’ from Cottage Farms Direct for $106.98 as well as 2 ½ to 3 ½’ table top Fraser fir for $58.99. Amazon sold 7’ Fir trees for $115, expecting to sell 50-100,000 trees. The Great Big Greenhouse, an inde- pendent garden center in Richmond, VA was offering a fresh cut baled 7’ premium Fraser Fir Christmas tree de- livered to your front door, along with a tree removal bag, and a packet of tree preservative for $99.99. In spite of all this competition, I think we all would say that the choose and cut in- dustry performed very well. Thanks to all the VCTGA members who helped staff the VCTGA exhibit at the State Fair of Virginia. It’s a great opportunity to promote family traditions of having a real Virginia grown fresh tree. The VCTGA hosted a successful Fall Wreath Workshop at the Virginia De- partment of Forestry Nursery in Crimora the morning before the Board meeting on October 17. The workshop was taught by Tommy Naylor, North Creek Christmas Tree & Nursery. Fresh greens were pro- vided by John Carroll, Claybrooke Farms. SAVE THE DATE! The 2019 VCTGA Annual Conference and Farm Tour will be held in Blacksburg at the Alphin-Stuart Livestock Arena, on Plantation Road, with great meet- ing facilities. Hotel rooms will be available at The Inn at Virginia Tech. John Carroll and his committee are al- ready putting together a great pro- gram that will take advantage of the talent and resources at Virginia Tech.

If you have any speaker/program sug- gestions, contact John as soon as pos- sible at claybrookefarm@gmail.com I encourage you to provide sugges- tions and comments of how the VCTGA can help you become more profitable and successful. jeffgreg- son@gmail.com or secretary@Vir- giniaChristmasTrees.org .

From the President

Jeff Gregson, President VCTGA 2016-19 Jeff regson resident VCT A 2016-19

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE I hope everyone had a successful and profitable 2018 Christmas season! There have been many reports of choose-and-cut farms closing 1-2 weeks early as a result of folks buying their trees earlier. Several factors probably played into this. First the weather was cold, and it had been much more season, leading up to Thanksgiving weekend, news stories about being a limited supply of trees, and social media marketing from the Christmas Tree Promotion Board. Some members experienced issues with rain and limited access to park- ing and some farms and some having to actually closed due to the weather. The December 9 th snow storm create a Christmas atmosphere, but came on a prime selling weekend. National tree sales surveys indicated an uptick in tree sales the first 3 weeks of the selling season, starting Thanks- giving weekend.

VCTGA News Journal Contributing and Coordinating Editors VDACS Support & Updates Danny Neel Grant Updates Greg Lemmer Editor in Chief - Jeff Miller Virginia Christmas Tree Growers Association Inc. 383 Coal Hollow Rd Christiansburg, VA 24073-6721 PH: 540-382-7310 Fax: 540-382-7310 secretary@VirginiaChrist- masTrees.org www.VirginiaChristmasTreees.org Disclaimer: Published for your information, this newsletter is not an endorsement for individual products or editorial comments. VCTGA News Journal Contributing and Coordinating Editors VDACS Support & Updates Danny Neel Grant Updates Greg Lemmer Editor in Chief - Jeff Miller Virginia Christmas Tree Growers Association Inc. 383 Coal Hollow Rd. Christiansburg, VA 24073-6721 PH: 540-382-7310 Fax: 540-382-2716 secretary@V rginiaChristmasTr es. r www.VirginiaChristmasTrees.org Disclaimer: Published for your i formation, this newsletter is not an endorsement for individual products or editorial comments.

VCTGA News Journal ‒ Winter 2019 VCTGA News Journal – Winter 2019

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