Christmas tree farm closing early for the holiday season
For the first time in decades
By James Felton and Emily Brown
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SAGINAW, Michigan (WNEM) — For the first time in decades, a mid-Michigan nursery is closing early for the Christmas season.
Friday will be the last day you can get a real tree at Kluck Nursery in Saginaw County, and one of the owners said this is happening everywhere.
“We’ve been thinking about this for a couple of weeks, knowing that it was probably coming,” Tom Kluck said.
Having to close two weeks early for the Christmas season is a reality Kluck, co-owner of Kluck Nursery, is dealing with. He said there just aren’t enough real trees left.
Kluck said between 2008 and 2011, there was a shortage of small trees because of the recession. The reduced number of small trees then, means a lower amount of tall trees now. That combined with an increased consumer demand led to the shortage of trees.
“So the two are colliding, and that’s why we’re short. As are pretty much all growers around Michigan, and around the country,” he said.
Kluck has a field where 90 percent of the trees are already gone. That’s why he’s taking measures to preserve some trees for the Christmas seasons to come.
“We have to rope off some. And this year, they happened to be real close to our setup where a lot of people saw them and tried to cut them over the weekend and the last 10 days, but we need those for next year so we have a nice supply,” Kluck said.
Kluck has sold 4,000 trees so far. He said this year, he’ll sell about 1,000 fewer trees than normal, but he was quick to point out trees are available until the close of business Friday.
“They can still go in our field. The selection is limited, but we are going to have quite a few nice pre-cuts throughout this week,” he commented.
He wanted to thank everyone for understanding.
“We know it’s going to disappoint some people, but we know it’s the best for long term,” Kluck said.
Kluck said the tree supply should be back to normal in two to three years.
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