Maya Lora: Christmas trees are going fast across Polk County, even at premium prices

Booger Mountain Christmas Trees started selling trees on Black Friday. Before the blitz shopping weekend had even come to a close with Cyber Monday, the lot had been picked clean.

"I'm closed for the season — I don't have anything else to sell. I'm out completely," said RL Lovern, the owner of Booger Mountain on Pipkin Road in Lakeland, who has been in the Christmas tree business for 43 years.

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Lovern sold of Christmas trees about a week earlier than he did in 2020, when he sold out of trees by Dec. 6.

Lovern, 77, said he never expected to sell out of trees that fast. His numbers this year were less than half of what he was able to sell just a few years ago. Lovern was only about to get in about 600 trees for the season from his farm.

"I am a small, independent grower in North Carolina and most of the small growers was kind of put out of business," Lovern said. "The Christmas tree market is a big boy game. And I'm not a big boy."

Local tree farm operators across Polk County agree. Trees were harder to find for the 2021 season, and they cost a decent amount more to secure, too. A lack of tree production a few years ago and rising freight costs are mostly to blame. And while the market may normalize again, expect to pay higher costs for trees that need to be purchased Thanksgiving weekend for the next four to five years.

Outside of the few independent sellers left in Polk County, Christmas trees are available at chains like Home Depot, Lowe's and Walmart. But big box stores aren't immune to issues like higher demand, shortages and delivery complications. Tree prices are up 10% to 30% across the board, according to the Associated Press.

The hunt for Christmas trees

For Lovern, the tree shortage he's seeing today was years in the making.

While competing with larger growers, Lovern said he went through a five-year period where he couldn't get new tree seedlings. That is starting to show now, as Lovern is down to selling his large, 10-year-old trees. He was able to get new seedlings four years ago, so those trees are still growing at an average of a foot a year.

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Additionally, Lovern used to sell trees to churches and other organizations that wanted to put up their own lots. Two years ago, he cut those customers by 30% and another 20% last year. This year, he had to cancel all orders outside of the ones done through his Lakeland lot.

"We went five years without [seedlings] and that was my downfall because I wasn't big enough to buy them from the big nurseries and a lot of the growers grew them themselves," Lovern said. "It just put a lot of small growers and independents out of business. I've survived, but I mean my income has been drastically reduced, drastically. It's nearly not even worth being in it no more."

Debbie Harris, 66, and her husband own Ergle Christmas Tree Farm in Dade City. She said about 10 years ago, a surplus meant growers couldn't sell their trees for enough money, so they stopped planting new ones. The effects of that decision have trickled down to today.

"I had a lot of trouble finding trees," Harris said. "Five years ago, I had people begging me to take their trees. Now, it takes a lot of work to secure trees."

Harris said she used to pay a maximum of a 20% deposit for her trees and was able to pay them off in late December. That's no longer the case.

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"We have to pay for every single tree that we've ordered before they'll put one tree on a truck. That's a lot of investment," Harris said.

Harris wouldn't disclose how many trees she ordered for the season, but she did say Ergle gets about three to four loads a week, which each come with 300 to 700 trees. She said after Sunday, she'll have a better idea if she'll get additional shipments in and how long she'll stay until. However, she's sure she'll be sold out before Christmas.

Nathan Baldwin, the owner of BG's Trees, isn't sure he'll have anything left after the weekend. Baldwin, 32, originally ordered 4,000 trees to spread across his three locations in Bartow, Plant City and Winter Haven. But he only received 2,500.

"I may be sold out this weekend. If things go like last weekend did, I'll definitely be sold out," Baldwin said. "Thanksgiving weekend, we definitely sold over 1,000 trees."

Costs for trees soar

What happens when a product is hard to find? The price goes up. Sometimes by a lot.

Baldwin said some of his trees that were once listed for $125 are now "easily" going for $225 or $250, reflecting a price double in just one year for some popular selections.

"Trees did get more expensive. There's a 20% decrease in wholesale trees, and that's from last year. And last year, there was a shortage," Baldwin said.

The prices have put Baldwin in a bind with some of his returning and new customers, who can be shocked by the sticker prices.

"I've got a really good clientele, and some of them walk in and walk out and I have to say 'Listen, this is what's going on,'" Baldwin said. "And they end up coming back just because there's no trees. I hate it, but it's just what it is."

At Ergle, which has operated for 35 years, you can grab a field-grown tree starting at $36 for a tree that's six feet tall or less. Harris said those prices have remained stable.

But prices did go up on the trees the farm imports from North Carolina and other northern states. Harris said prices probably went up between 8% and 10%, on top of a price increase last year.

"We've eaten some of that, to be honest, because we just felt like there was only so much we could increase the tree to when the growers based in North Carolina were basically charging the price or even higher prices for the trees they're sending us wholesale what we used to charge our customers retail just a couple of years ago," Harris said.

Trees aren't the only problem. A nationwide truck driver shortage and increases in the cost of freight are also driving tree farms to charge more.

But demand is still there.

"You couldn't imagine how many calls we got from people, churches we didn't even know because they can't get trees from the big growers," Lovern said. "If I would have had the trees, our market would have been great this year."

The shortage is far from over

Lovern said he's endured about five years of seasons just like this one, and he's anticipating another five more before his business returns to normal. He intends to fight to survive the upcoming financial drought.

"I'm going to be weak next year, very bad," Lovern said. "Basically five more years, I should be back decent. I won't be 100%, but I'll have more trees than we've had for these latter years."

Baldwin said his tree supplier in Michigan is also warning of a rough four to five years as growers recuperate from years lost.

Even as supply dwindles, demand will be up. And that's heartbreaking for Lovern.

"We're really disappointed that we're not able to help our customers," Lovern said. "All these people we've taken care of 43 years [and] now we can't do it."

With fewer trees available and a higher cost on the ones that are, customers may turn more frequently to artificial trees, which can cost the same as or less than real trees and last for years.

Harris said she has lost customers, including close friends, to the artificial tree business. But she's also converted newcomers to the real tree lifestyle, especially since going out to the farm to pick a tree is an experience that can stretch hours.

And for some customers, there's one thing that artificial trees just can't supply: the smell.

"It's just not Christmas if they're not smelling their tree," Harris said. "And when they get out of their car at the farm, you just spot them right away because they're just smelling there, breathing in the air. And the first thing they say is 'Oh, that smell. It just smells so fresh here.'"

While the business may be rough now, Harris is looking forward to a brighter future for Christmas trees. Buying and decorating a tree is a tradition Harris doesn't see fading anytime soon, even if families opt for a fake tree over a real one.

"I look forward to the cycle ending that we're in right now or the pendulum swinging the other way so that we get back in a situation where trees are available and the quality is there again and that there's a little competition and the growers are able to sell every single tree they have," Harris said.

Maya Lora can be reached with tips or questions at mlora@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @mayaklora.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Christmas trees are harder to find, more expensive in Polk this year