BUTLER COUNTY, Ohio — This weekend is expected to be the busiest time of the year to get a real live-cut Christmas tree. Some tree farmers are getting ready for the crowd while others are closing up shop.

What You Need To Know

  • Christmas tree farmers are getting ready for the busy season that could make or break business for their farms 

  • Some farmers are still planting but because of high demand don't have enough trees to meet demand to open for the season 

  • Farms that are still open this season are saying they have plenty left but are planting more and letting families come and cut trees by appointment to try and keep up

It all started as a hobby for Roger Koch. 

“I planted my first tree in 1989,” he said.

He turned it into a business that took him decades to make.

“This (pine tree) was planted in 2016, and they’ll grow about a foot a year,” Koch said.

He runs a Christmas tree farm in Butler County and sits on Ohio’s Christmas Tree Association board.

He said right now — the busy Christmas season — is the time that can make or break a farm, and he said this year they’ve noticed something.

“What we’re seeing in the public is their attitudes toward buying a live cut tree versus an artificial tree, and that’s why people seem to think there is a shortage of trees,” he said. “Well, actually, the demand is increased, and the production hasn’t kept up with that.”

He said they’ve been planting more and selling their trees by appointment to keep up, and there’s still plenty of trees left here, but he said the prices may be a little different.

“Our cost of production is up,” Koch said. “Our chemical, our fertilizer, fuel for tractors, repairs, all that is up, so we did raise our prices probably 10% this year. We had to do it.”

After more than 20 years of growing Christmas trees, though, he has no plans to stop.

“It does keep me off the couch,” he said. “I enjoy doing it, so we’ll do it as long as we can.”