By Boyd Kidwell
Progressive Farmer Contributor
'Tis the night before Christmas and all through the house, Earl Deal's family is resting, their tired feet no longer protesting. With a year of hard work passed, they have one merry day of rest now at long last.
It is Christmas at Smokey Holler Tree Farm, and the 25th day of December is time for the Deals to celebrate another successful holiday harvest.
"On this farm, our only break from work comes on Christmas Day," said Earl, who with his wife, Betty, operates their Christmas tree farm. "There's work to do every other day of the year."
The Deals produce 10 species of evergreens but say Fraser fir is the Cadillac of Christmas trees.
The native species of Fraser fir grows best at elevations over 3,000 feet above sea level in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, from southwest Virginia through western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. But even at that elevation, they are tricky to grow.
"Fraser fir won't live on some soils, even in the mountains," Earl points out.
Fraser fir is a uniformly cone-shaped tree with dark green needles. It is the premier tree for showcasing holiday ornaments.
The Deals own 500 acres of land, with about 150 acres in firs. The family also grows several varieties of spruce that are sold to garden centers and landscapers as live trees.
"[But] a lot of our land is too rough for tree farming," he said.
The Deals began planting Christmas trees as a part-time enterprise in 1972. At the time, Earl was a professor in the College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and Betsy also taught school.
Earl and his cousin thought that growing Christmas trees would be a good part-time business. And they had some land available that was owned by their grandmother up in the mountains.
"I can tell you that growing Christmas trees isn't a get-rich-quick scheme. You have to wait eight years after planting to receive your first income," said Earl.
COMMUTER TREE FARM
For a number of years, the Deals commuted from Raleigh to work at their tree farm high up in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains. After retirement in 2000, Earl and Betsy moved to their farm near Laurel Springs, N.C., and became full-time Christmas tree growers.
Over the years, Smokey Holler Tree Farm (smokeyhollertreefarm.com) has developed into a family affair with Earl and Betsy's son, Buddy, performing farm management duties and their daughter, Meg, a CPA, handling the books. Buddy's wife, Della, a former North Carolina Extension agent, is also a key part of the operation. A third generation of Deals has joined the operation, and the whole family pitches in at the hectic harvest time.
The Deals belong to the Mount Rogers Area Christmas Tree Growers Association, and the organization has an orchard that provides Fraser fir seed. Growers use it to produce Fraser fir seedlings for replanting Christmas tree plantations after harvest. Yuletide trees are a $100-million-a-year industry in North Carolina. The state ranks second only to Oregon, which boasts a $110 million Christmas tree business.
YEAR-ROUND CHORES
There's more to growing Christmas trees than cutting the evergreens and loading them on trucks. Christmas tree production includes:
-- Shaping/Shearing. Shaping the trees with hand pruners and long knives is a huge annual chore for growers. Fraser firs have a natural conical shape, but a few snips with shears and swings with knives are required each year to produce a perfect tree. With approximately 1,700 trees planted per acre, that's a lot of shearing.
-- Weed Control. Trees are usually planted on 5- by 5-foot spacing and control of grass and weeds is important throughout the growing cycle. Unchecked, weeds shade out the bottom 3 feet of the tree's branches, impacting growth. Producers mow and apply herbicides as needed to control weed competition.
-- Insect Control. Several insects can seriously damage or kill Fraser firs and other evergreens. The most serious pests are balsam wooly adelgid, balsam twig aphids and mites. Growers use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices to determine when insects reach an economic threshold that requires insecticide applications.
The Deals scout their fields and look for harmful insects in economically damaging numbers. To protect predator insects, they avoid spray applications in areas where harmful insects haven't reached the economic threshold. The Deals work actively at timing applications to protect pollinators such as bees.
MARKET STRATEGY
The family approaches Christmastime marketing from multiple angles.
They market trees wholesale to nurseries and retail stores. They also operate a choose-and-cut operation at their mountain farm. As Christmas approaches, they set up direct-sales lots for Christmas trees around Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, N.C. Della oversees a thriving Christmas wreath and garland business.
Earl is often asked about his success. "We put in a lot of hard work is the only way I can put it," he said. "Betsy and I were fortunate that we always had other jobs with paychecks, and we reinvested all the money we made on Christmas trees back into the tree farm."
Through Buddy's efforts, the Deal family won the North Carolina Grand Champion Christmas Tree Contest in 2002 and were honored to provide a tree for the governor's office.
The Deals' highest honor was presenting a Fraser fir that became the White House Christmas tree in 2005. When lights in the White House Blue Room sparkled on a Fraser fir from Smokey Holler Farm, Earl's dreams from 30 years of tree farming came true.
"Being named Outstanding Christmas Tree Farmer of the Year and presenting a tree to the White House was a dream come true. You work and work to grow the best trees possible, and it's a real honor to be recognized for all of your hard work," said Earl. To present the tree to the White House, the grower must win the annual grand champion tree contest conducted by the National Christmas Tree Association.
Earl and Betsy received a thank-you letter from Laura Bush. Better still, the White House staff purchased additional trees from the Deals for five more years. In addition to the national championship tree used in the Blue Room, the White House places 17 real trees in various rooms every year.
Never ones to rest on their laurels, on Dec. 26, Earl and other Deal family members will pull on their boots and start preparing for the 2016 season. After all, Christmas will be here again in 364 days.
(AG)
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