Is it too early to plant in March?

Not if you are planting Christmas Trees!

We have had an unusually warm and early spring in Ohio this year. For our family spring means planting time. Our family Christmas Tree Farm Kaleidoscope Farms kicks it into high gear this time of year. The over 2,300 baby seedlings have been shipped to us and are ready to be planted. When we get the trees they arrive by ground shipment and are packaged in boxes. The sooner they get in the ground the better it is for the trees survival rate. This year we planted 4 varieties such as Canaan fir, White pine, Norway Spruce and Scotch pine. Each of these little trees will be planted by our family and each tree will be planted by a Reese hand. The trees planted this year will be ready for our customers in the year 2018-2019. It takes a tree about 1 year to grow 1 foot. The different varieties grow at different rates. Pines and firs grow the fastest while the spruces take a little longer.

After the trees are planted we rely on a rain to come within the first week or so. Due to our wet weather pattern this should not be an issue this year. There are years where we have very dry spells and we lose many trees. Just like many other crops we need to have a good growing season with as few as extreme swings in the weather pattern.

Some of the trees planted were planted in a field of a clover cover crop. This was done with hopes the clover will help with weed control. For these little trees this year we will let them grow and get rooted in the ground. All of the other trees will be sheered by hand each year until our customer makes it their family Christmas Tree.