CLEVELAND — Christmas trees were lined up and getting prepped to ride atop cars at Mountain Creek Tree Farm in Concord Township Friday morning.

“Today’s business really isn’t affected by the drought. Where you’re going to see that is in the future,” said owner, Ken Reeves.

Crops throughout Ohio have been affected by the recent drought and Christmas trees are no exception.

“It takes one to two years for the roots to become strong, so the trees won’t have a big impact yet,” said Reeves.

Reeves’ farm sits on 52 acres. In a normal year, it loses about 10% of seedlings. This year it lost about 20 to 25%.

But Reeves said he’s one of the fortunate ones. His area is in a microclimate that wasn’t hit as hard. Farms just five miles away were more greatly affected.

Tree farmers have found ways to try to beat Mother Nature. There are now hybrid trees that give the look that customers want but are hardier Reeves planted a hybrid Frasier Fir and Balsam hybrid known as Fralsam trees two years ago.

A batch he planted a couple years ago didn’t grow much this year–only about an inch–and was affected by the drought, he said.

Despite the setback, this year’s harvest was plentiful. The tree farm is family owned and has been selling trees since 1956. One family has been coming for 28 years.

“We always found the exact tree we wanted - not too big, not too small. Sometimes we had it in the house for more than two months,” said Jane Thornburgh.

But Reeves said it’s about more than just trees.

“Being together…doing something fun…even if dads gets mad because he had to cut the tree down…when the kids are in their 60s and 70s, they’ll remember doing something fun with mom and dad,” Reeves said.

Mountain Creek Tree Farm also offers pre-cut trees. During the holiday season, they’re open every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.