Maple Ridge Christmas tree farmer says heat, inflation adding to prices this year

There is one thing Ryan Murphy knows about growing Christmas trees – the way farmers used to grow them two decades ago is not the way they can be grown today.

After a heat dome two summers ago and a drought that had him watering trees well into October, Murphy, owner and operator of Murphy’s Christmas Tree Farm in Maple Ridge, noted that weather is only one factor that Christmas tree farmers have had to deal with – that is adding to both the price and the potentially the quantity of trees that will be on the market in future years.

Murphy explained that he strategically plants trees in his fields specifically because the heat that we have seen in recent years is really creating a problem for trees – especially since he lost a portion of juvenile trees on his farm as a result of the 2021 heat dome.

If a tree is facing west, he said, it can potentially get scorched on one side of the tree. And, he added, if temperatures reach about 38 C for multiple days, it’s like trying to grow trees in the desert.

“So strategically planting in other fields, some are on the north slopes, some are on the south, you get a bit of a mix and that helps. And then you are able to at least have some harvest,” said Murphy.

Murphy, who has been growing Christmas trees for the past 19 years, said he handles around 7,000 trees on his farm, and the field where the public is able to pick their trees has about 3,500 trees on it. He explained that his fields are irrigated, which cools the trees down. However, he said, it’s not just drought that affect the trees, but the intensity of the heat.

Unlike a deciduous tree, or a tree with leaves, which will shed, but remain alive, with intense heat, an evergreen tree’s needles will cook in the heat and the tree, “a lot of times, they just die, especially if they are small,” Murphy explained, adding that farmers can be set back about four years losing trees to the heat.

Murphy expects that if he plants three trees, only one will survive.

“Basically I expect one to die. I have to expect that and maybe I’ll get two that will survive. Or maybe I’ll just have one. If I do get two that grow then one of them will be chosen to harvest at an earlier age while the other one matures, get a little bit more size and thickness,” he explained.

But, Murphy’s battle is not only with Mother Nature – it’s with the economy as well.

Inflation has driven up the costs of almost everything he needs to grow his trees.

“Labour prices, that’s everybody’s dilemma right now, in every industry,” he said. Then there is the price of fertilizer, and the cost of seeds.

And Murphy plants a lot of seeds – grass seeds in order to keep forage underneath the trees, which, he elaborated, keeps the roots of the trees regulated, without growing too tall.

“So there’s different types of grasses that I buy. Those costs are significant. Seed prices have gone way up,” he said.

Another big cost for Christmas tree farmers is the cost of trucking their trees to market.

READ ALSO: Short supplies, high prices expected for B.C. Christmas trees this holiday season

ALSO: More snow in the forecast Tuesday for Fraser Valley, Lower Mainland

Murphy noted that if there are significant losses in the field, and it’s harder to grow trees, it will take the farmer more effort and more hours. He had to pay a crew in October to water trees – when they should have been doing other work.

“Those are man hours that are allocated to doing things that we’ve never had to think about before,” he said, adding that all of these things add to the final price of the product.

Since his farm opened up for the season the last weekend of November he has seen a steady stream of people at the farm. It hasn’t been crazy like last year.

“I think because COVID now, the restrictions and things aren’t like they were. I think people are more out and about more. I think last year when they came to our farm, it was the first time they had been out in months,” he said.

Murphy’s Christmas Tree Farm has been open to the public for the past nine years. People are able to cut their own tree on the weekends, or choose a pre-cut tree every day during the week, while supplies last. He sells nobles, Frasers, Douglas firs, sub-alpines, grand firs, and Nordmann firs. He also sells live-potted trees and Christmas wreaths.

There is a festive atmosphere at the farm with live music, a gift store, and a fire pit.

Murphy’s Christmas Tree Farm is located at 25377 124 Avenue, Maple Ridge.

For more information go to facebook.com/MurphyChristmasTreeFarm.