Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, December 5, 1994 TAG: 9412220094
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RUSTBURG LENGTH: Medium
Now, Driskell raises Christmas trees.
The seasons used to be defined by the rituals of preparing the seedbed, planting, budding, worming, picking, curing, sorting, tying and selling. Now, they're marked by pruning, spraying, mowing and Christmas.
``It's similar to tobacco because it's very labor-intensive, but it's labor I can do on my schedule more so than a crop of tobacco,'' Driskell said.
Driskell prepared last week for a weekend onslaught of families on an outing to his Campbell County farm, looking for just the right Christmas tree.
``The selling part is different than any other crop,'' Driskell said. ``And that's the fun part.''
Christmas trees aren't likely to replace Virginia's big crops such as tobacco, corn and soybeans, but the industry is growing across the state.
The Virginia Christmas Tree Growers' Association has more than 300 members. Growing trees is a supplemental enterprise, rather than a full-time job, for most of those, but some have 20 or 30 acres in trees.
``It's grown to about a $20 million industry in Virginia and is still growing,'' said Nan Johnson, of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. ``Virginia growers will sell about 1.7 million trees this year.''
A few years ago, some people were predicting a glut of Virginia-grown Christmas trees, but growers say there is still plenty of demand for their product, even though new growers are entering the market every year.
Natural trees are gaining on artificial ones, and Virginia trees are driving out-of-state trees from the parking lots and grocery stores of the Old Dominion.
Then there's the fun of going out to a Christmas tree farm and cutting your own tree. Some growers sell all of their trees that way. Others, like Driskell, sell some to wholesalers and save some for their local customers.
There isn't as much competition as one might think.
``Four out of five people who plant Christmas trees never sell a tree,'' said Richard Miles of Dancing Hill Tree Farm near Bedford. ``If everybody had stuck with it, there would be enough trees for every room of every house.''
The first crop takes six to eight years to grow, and unless growers prune their trees and inspect for pests every year, they won't have trees ready to sell.
The staple of Virginia Christmas tree farms is the white pine. Driskell grows them the textbook way, aiming for the perfect, dark-green, triangular tree.
It's a task well-suited for a man who grew up learning the exacting science of growing tobacco. As with tobacco, size, shape and color are important with Christmas trees. When he prunes the trees in June, Driskell aims for the trees' sides to slope at a 66-degree angle to the ground.
The regular pruning causes the trees to put out extra buds and branch into more limbs, creating a conical tree thick with pine boughs.
Like many Central Virginia growers, Driskell has started to experiment with other tree species. Until his own are big enough to cut, he ships in Fraser firs from Floyd County to give his customers more choices.
by CNB