MONCTON, N.B. – Those looking for a real Christmas tree may want to get it sooner than usual this year, as Maritime growers say they are predicting a shortage of fresh cut trees this holiday season.
While heavy snow in the woods may make tree shoppers more excited about the season; it has made life difficult for growers trying to harvest this year’s crop of trees.
“There's a lot of growers that had a difficult time getting their product out, still, right to today,” said Howard Matthews, tree grower.
Growers say they can’t support the demand for the traditional tree this season, and are predicting many lots will run out before filling the demand.
But heavy snow isn’t the only problem facing farmers this year – the late spring frost stunted the growth of some of the branches, while those trees aren’t dead, they now can’t be cut until next season.
“A lot of people lost as much as 50 per cent of their product for this year,” said Matthews.
He says the damage was worse in Nova Scotia, and some of New Brunswick’s supply will end up across the border.
Many lot owners around Moncton say trees are already flying off some of the local lots, as fast as growers can cut them.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jonathan MacInnis.
