The extension, Shealer said, provides informal education programs in the areas of agriculture, family and consumer science, and community development and organizes the annual event, which has been presented for 20 years to offer training in various tree-growing techniques. With Christmas still ten months away, growers aren’t on vacation.
About 185 tree farmers and private growers attended the conference, which included lectures on pesticide applications, business planning, and exotic tree farming — all of which are year-round jobs, since growing a tree large enough for decorative use can take as long as 15 years, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. ”We come here every year, and there’s always something new to learn,” said Dan Schroeder of Schroeder Family Farms in Schuylkill County.
”You have to know what you’re dealing with, or you end up losing trees.” One tree display showed the effects of the Balsam Woolly Adelgid — a type of insect that infects fir trees, causing branches to curl. ”It has literally destroyed about 90 percent of the wild Fraser firs in the Smoky Mountains,” Shealer said of the pest, which is not native to the U.S. ”It sucks the juices from the tree as it feeds and also injects toxins.
The tree swells to react to it, causing distorted growth.” Shealer, who owns Evergreen Acres tree farm in Schuylkill County — the largest tree-producing county in Pennsylvania, which is the fourth-largest tree-producing state in the country — said tree growers are trying to create hybrids to boost immunity to such ailments.