Christmas Tree shortage impacting Central Coast buyers and sellers

If you have not picked out your Christmas tree yet, you might want to start thinking about it.

A shortage of trees is hitting the state, meaning you can expect to pay a little more for a tree this year.

But finding that perfect tree might be a little harder. While tree buyers and growers say the quality is mostly good, the variety and stock is limited.

Steve McShane, owner of McShane Nursery off of Highway 68 in Salinas says, “Christmas trees have been sold her for decades, and this year is without question the tightest season yet.”

While McShane says the prices of the trees do not differ much from last year, that does not go for all tree farms and lots. The reason for this shortage, McShane says, comes down to what was being planted years ago. “Our order was cut and I’ve heard this across the board. Folks came in this year early because they didn’t get trees last year. It’s just an interesting time. Less planting 6 or 7 years ago due to the economic down turn result in fewer trees today,” McShane says.

One shopper, Robert Powell says he gets a certain type of tree each year, but due to the shortage was not able to this year. “Last year we had Nordmann, but this year he doesn’t have any Nordmann’s. The quality of the trees are excellent, but it’s just finding the specific variety,” said Powell.

While others, like Garrett Van Zanten, say they didn’t notice a shortage, “It seems to be a pretty good selection. As far as I can tell there’s plenty of trees to go around.”

McShane says his lot sold out completely last year, he is expecting the same for this year. He also is not anticipating the tree shortage to end by next season. “The market corrects in the Christmas tree industry every 3 to 5 years. So more planting this year will result in a better market for the consumer in about 4 to 5 years but I think the prediction is gonna be that trees will be tight for the next year or two,” said Mcshane.