How Drought Impacts Your Christmas Trees
If you’re a gardener, you know that drought conditions and excessive heat can wreck your plants. The same happens to trees that will eventually be used as Christmas trees. However, one season of extreme drought and excessive drought can do more damage than you think.
Drought is defined as a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall, leading to a shortage of water. There are five intensities that describe how severe the drought is. Those are DO (Abnormally Dry), D1 (Moderate Dry), D2 (Severe Drought), D3 (extreme Drought) and D4 (Exceptional Drought).
When there is drought, there is a higher risk for plants and crops to die due to loss of soil moisture. There is also an increased risk for wildfires when there are ongoing drought conditions, which can indirectly kill crops and vegetation. With climate change, the frequency of droughts, wildfires and excessive heat are increasing, leading to dry, heated soil. When there is or has been drought and extreme, persistent heat, the number of available Christmas trees decreases. The dry, heated soil ends of baking the seeding roots, and they become damaged and are not able to grow. On average, it takes about 8 to 10 years for trees to become tall enough to see as Christmas trees.
With trees that have already been planted, drought and extreme heat can cause trees to become brown and brittle. To avoid that, they may need to be removed from the ground before they are fully grown. As a result, this limits the selection of trees available and there may be a higher number of shorter trees compared to larger trees. This also limits the number to trees overall.
When trees are limited due to drought and extreme heat, tree farmers are forced to raise their prices to make a profit or even just make a living. This means higher prices for you or being forced to buy an artificial Christmas tree. However, artificial trees are even running low on supply this year and are costing more than normal due to inflation.
With drought and extreme heat becoming more frequent, the chances for limited Christmas trees will also increase. It is recommended to buy your tree early and not wait until a few days before Christmas. This will ensure that you get a tree while there is still some in stock.
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Story image via Pixabay