At the Christmas Forest, every tree cut down is replaced with another. They are a crop with a nine-year long harvest cycle.

Growers have found that, in common with farmers everywhere, it is very hard to produce an acceptable and economic crop without using modern techniques. If you are asking “are your trees eco”, then you have to make the following comparisons with other crops:

– A nine-year harvest cycle means a stable habitat in which other species, especially birds, can flourish.

– A robust slow growing crop of trees responds better to non-chemical intervention eg pruning, symbiotic plantings, mechanical weeding and will generally require less chemical treatment than more vulnerable cereals and other annuals

– There are fewer chemicals approved and available for use on christmas trees than for the larger agricultural interests, therefore growers tend to seek alternative means, eg mechanical or manual weeding, symbiotic species (ladybirds, clover) rather than the latest chemical fix.

– Christmas tree fields are green for longer (ten years between clearances) and runoff (the process of water washing fertilisers and other chemicals into the water supply) is minimal.

– The crop is not for eating and can therefore be grown on “recycled” land (eg landfill, brownfield).
If you would like to read more about the sustainability of Christmas trees, Kelly Caston has a very useful Q&A www.christmasforest.co.uk/sustainability.

For more details please visit http://www.christmasforest.co.uk/.