Better Watch Out: NJ Has A Christmas Tree Shortage

If you haven't gotten your tree yet, you'd better watch out.

Those who sell them say they're running out of them. Some garden centers, in particular, say they were cleaned out as early as 10 days before Christmas.

While some tree farms are doing fine, others – particularly the garden centers and roadside stands – say they're feeling the sting of the 2007-2008 ecnomic recession when fewer growers were planting them. They just didn't have enough money at the time to do it, they say.

Since many trees take a decade to grow, Bill Borowsky of Nature’s Reward Farm Market on Bridge Avenue in Point Pleasant Boro said he's found himself in short supply. He also said there's been a rise in prices that hasn't helped.

"If there wasn't a shortage, why did every (Fraser tree) go up by $10?" said Borowsky, a councilman in Point Pleasant Boro. He was down to eight trees on Wednesday.

Some have exericised caution, saying that many farms and growers in New Jersey do not have a shortage, and they suggested that some tree sellers are running low because they didn't prepare properly.

Donna Allison Cole, executive secretary of the New Jersey Christmas Tree Growers Association, said she's heard people say "we can't find them anywhere" and that there's a shortage. But she and other growers have plenty of them. She suggested that "poor planning" following the 2007-2008 recession didn't help.

But Borowsky didn't appear to buy the "poor planning" reason.

"There's definitely a shortage," he said, taking issue with what the growers were saying. "They (growers) don't want people to rush out to buy an artificial tree."

Alex Lim, owner of Holly Brook Farms & Garden Center on Route 35 in Wall, also believes there's a shortage but he believes it's more cyclical. He also said a lot of trees come from Canada, but winter weather has limited the distribution from there.

Does he have trees? Well, no. Lim said he's been wipped out.

"It's cyclical but it doesn't make it any easier," he said.

Here is more on the Christmas tree shortage that appears to be nationwide:

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