How Christmas Trees Work

Actual harvest times vary according to species andclimate, but most plantations begin cutting trees during the first few weeks of November. Usually, trees that will be shipped outside the originating country are harvested first. Then, those set for domestic sale will be cut from mid-November to mid-December.

The harvesting includes several steps:

Some pretty cool equipment is used to do all of this. Several plantations in the Pacific Northwest usehelicoptersto move bundles of trees from the field to truck beds.Refrigeratedtrucks are used to transport trees, and balers (like the one pictured above) are used during harvest to bundle the trees for shipping. Sometimes you will see a baler at retail lots, where they use them to rebundle your tree before loading it onto the top of yourcar.

In the next section, we'll discuss the best ways to go about selecting a Christmas tree.