New Hampshire’s long-running drought has hurt many local seasonal traditions, from whitewater rafting in the summer to leaf-peeping in the fall. But how, now as the holidays approach, are local christmas trees impacted?
“We have noticed there's a lot more trees that have started to dry out. Some have turned more yellow than normal," said Kristian Backa, co-owner of Balsam Woods Tree Farm in Newport.
But experts say when the drought intensified in late summer this year, evergreens were generally in a better spot than other trees. The hardwoods that supply such vibrant foliage, like Red Maples or American Beech, suffered more this year because they go dormant later than evergreens, so many of them were active during this year’s drought.
“The dormancy of Christmas trees or evergreens in general usually begins in August,” said Steve Roberge, the state forester for the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension.
He said that means that evergreens were shutting down by the time the drought was at its worst, meaning high temperatures or a lack of soil moisture had little effect on the trees. Instead, conditions earlier in the year played a larger role.
“We had a really wet spring, which is great for tree growth,” he said.
Roberge said the one caveat is seedlings and younger trees, which are a few years away from being cut and sold, are more vulnerable to drought than mature trees.
“[Droughts] are just tough on newly planted trees,” he said. “And so there may be a lot of mortality that we see in Christmas trees planted this year.”
Recent precipitation has improved but not resolved the drought in most of the state, and many experts anticipate that it will persist into next year, since the ground freezing can “lock” conditions into place. Roberge said this could harm next year’s trees more.
“If we don't recover from the drought this winter or early spring, once the trees break dormancy and start growing again and calling for water…you're definitely going to see some very slow growth or no growth at all,” he said.
Backa at Balsam Woods has her fingers crossed, like always.
“We just always hope for rain, and hopefully we'll have more rain next year,” she said.
