WASHINGTONVILLE, Pa. — A tradition for many families is to go to the Christmas tree farm and cut down a tree, but some places do not have that option this year.
Stanley Kohl spent the morning cutting down Christmas trees at a farm in the Milton area. Kohl is bringing the trees to his farm—Kohl's Stony Hill Tree Farm. It's been a busy season, and these trees will supplement the ones already sold.
"We're doing what we can to have trees available for whoever wants them," Kohl said.
Over the weekend, Kohl put up signs at his farm near Washingtonville telling people they can no longer cut their own trees.
"We tried to limit the height, nothing under eight feet. People still came and cut way more than I anticipated."
Kohl sold a lot of Christmas trees both last year and this year. He had to stop people from cutting their own trees so he will have enough for next year.
"The inventories are down, and you can't replace them overnight. It's a ten-year process to get trees to marketable heights."
Kohl says tree prices are higher because of supply and demand. The Christmas tree business is booming.
"Which is good for the industry but not having them is bad."
On top of all that, Kohl says some other area farms are not allowing people to cut their own trees for the same reason.
"I know one, in particular, he didn't do anything this year because they sold down so far last year."
Kohl says people who previously tagged a tree at his farm can still come and cut it down. But for those who ignore the closed signs, he is charging four times the regular price.
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