Comments

• On the article How Do I Pick a Good Holiday Tree?

  

  Dennis Tompkins

  4:09 pm on Monday, December 3, 2012

  Thank you Patch readers for your comments on the Christmas tree article. I appreciate the different perspectives. Allow me to add one more: Christmas tree growers are involved in a risky enterprise when they have to make decisions as what to plant 6 to 10 years before realizing any return. During that interim, they are faced with many potential pests and weather conditions that may threaten their crop. Their success is based upon making the right decisions as to what consumer tastes will be years in the future, surviving the challenges a grower of any perishable commodity faces, competition from artificial trees, etc.

  Unfortunately, not all trees will sell and the left over trees are a P.R. problem for the industry. However, they have to be harvested when "mature". I would point out that the fickleness of we consumers causes thousands of tons of fresh foods in super markets to be discarded daily. However, this occurs generally at night when the practice is shielded from our eyes. So these "leftovers", which dwarf the number of excess Christmas trees, are not visible. This is not a criticism of the practice, but that's the way it is because we do not want blemished or spoiled produce on grocery shelves.

  Hopefully, this added perspective will help those with guilty feelings about cutting our beautiful trees to overcome their concerns.

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