Growing cost of your Christmas tree

But there is a risk that there won’t be enough trees to go round this year.

Christmas tree suppliers are warning that if you leave it too late, you might miss out.

And even if you do get a real tree, you may have to pay more for it than you had expected.

There has been a shortage of trees over the last few years but thanks to the adverse weather conditions, this year the situation is particularly bad.

The problem took root in 2005, when EU subsidies for growing Christmas trees were axed. The effect was to reduce the number of growers in Denmark – one of the main exporters of Christmas trees, according to The British Christmas Tree Growers’ Association.

Catch-up “We’re growing more trees in this country but we’re in a catch-up exercise,” said Roger Hay, the association’s secretary.

“Also, because of changes in the value of currency, many Danish growers find it more economical to send their trees to Eastern Europe than to the UK. The change has been occurring over the past few years but it’s dramatically worse this year.”

He added that a number of other factors had also resulted in a shortage of trees this year, including a severe frost in Northern Europe in May which damaged a lot of trees and made them unsaleable.

Christopher Hood, managing director of Needlefresh Direct in Wiltshire which sells trees to a number of Hampshire nurseries and garden centres added that the current cold snap is not helping matters. The shortage has got a lot worse this year,” he said.

“The big problem is the weather. In the 25 years I’ve been in the industry, I’ve never known weather like this at Christmas tree harvesting time. Harvesting in Scotland is nearly impossible at the moment because of the snow. The whole of northern Denmark has pretty much ground to a halt and I think they’re going to be unable to harvest any more.”

He added that one of the longer-term problems was that the price of trees had dropped so low that many small and medium-size growers had given up, causing a shortage.

Of course, when any product is in short supply and high demand, prices can rise.

“If there’s a shortage of something there’s usually an increase in price but that will vary dramatically,” said Roger Hay.

“If people went to a local farm they would probably find very little change in price but if they go to some of the larger retail outlets who are buying in a chain they’re likely to see a much bigger price increase.”

But Pip Bensley, plant buyer at Hilliers, which is based in Romsey, said that their prices were unaffected by the recent shortages as they placed their order for this year’s trees in January.

Matthew Hill, general manager of Haskins in West End, said that due to a general shortage of trees, last year prices leapt by 10 per cent. But this year they have remained the same as 2009.

Long dry spell

But rather than cost, it seems that real trees simply not being available might be the biggest issue for anyone wanting to deck their house out for Christmas this year.

Jeanette Harding, business manager of Medina Nursery in Warsash said that while wholesale prices in trees grown in Hampshire had increased due, she thinks, to poor crops resulting from the long dry spell earlier this year, they have only had to increase their tree prices by a pound or two.

They have, however, had their order of trees cut by 15 per cent, due to reduced stocks.

Obviously, with trees in short supply it would be unwise to leave buying yours until the last minute.

Steve Goodridge, owner of Allington Nurseries in West End, agrees. “There’s a massive shortage this year,” he said. “There aren’t as many trees being grown in the UK as there used to be. Also, the Nordmann fir has become popular more quickly than they can grow it “Normally we’d order more trees in mid-December if it’s going well but that’s not going to be the case this year.”

“People might have problems getting a tree if they leave it too late,” warned Christopher Hood. “They’re likely to be in short supply.”

The experts agree that the weekend of December 11 and 12 will be the ideal time to buy your tree.

Roger Hay says that trees coming down from Scotland which have been delayed by bad weather should have been delivered by then.