Christmas tree farming is big business in Texas

Carole Huebner prepares wreaths made from Virginia pines grown at the family’s Christmas tree farm. Journal photo/David Stone As the saying goes: “Everything’s big in Texas,” and that includes the state’s booming Christmas tree industry.

Although Christmas trees weren’t grown commercially in the state until 1977, this year 130 producers will sell about 200,000 trees. The farms will contribute about $12 million to Texas’ economy this year alone.

“At one time, we had about 500 tree farms in the state,” said Mike Waltersheidt, an Elgin tree grower and executive secretary to the Texas Christmas Tree Growers Association. “That leveled off, but now we’re growing again. We’re still a big industry.”

One of the farms contributing to the new growth is Huebner Christmas Tree Farm, located on a scenic slice of hillside land about six miles northwest of Leona. Owners Carole and Steve Huebner planted their first trees in 2004 and opened to the public for the first time last year.

Steve Huebner, a former Leon County ag agent who now owns and operates a Christmas tree farm with his wife, Carole, trims and shapes trees for the upcoming season. The Huebners farm is located near Leona. Journal photo/David Stone “We had about 200 families visit,” Carole Huebner said. “We were very pleased, especially since it was our first year.”

The Huebners have been busy in recent weeks preparing for season two. This year they will offer Virginia pines and Leyland cypress trees, a cross between Alaskan cedar and Monterey cypress trees.

“We also will have a few precut Frazer furs and wreaths,” Carole said.

She called the Leyland “an allergy-free tree.”

“It doesn’t produce pollen or cones,” she said. “It doesn’t bloom at all.”

“This is good news for families who haven’t been able to have a real tree because someone in the family suffers from allergies,” Steve added. “Now they can.”

The Leyland cypress is extremely dark green in color and has a lacey texture. Although the trees in this year’s crop are 5 years old, some have grown at different rates, giving customers a range of sizes to choose from.

“We have a good range of Leylands to choose from,” Carole said. “We have them from 5 feet to more than 12 feet tall, and we also have a nice variety of Virginia pines.”

The Huebners have worked hard to make buying a Christmas tree at their farm a family experience.

“We’ll take them down the hill on a hayride,” Steve said. “Then they can walk through the tree field and pick out the tree they want. They can cut down the tree or we will cut it for them.”

Once a tree is selected and cut, it is taken up the hill to the Huebner’s service barn where it is bundled in netting. Also, a hole can be drilled in the bottom of the tree so it fits perfectly on stands that are available for purchase, he said.

The barn doubles as a workshop where Carole creates Christmas wreaths from tree cuttings.

“We make a variety of wreaths, including traditional round wreaths or wreaths shaped as crosses or candy canes,” she said. “We decorate them with bows and berries.”

Carole said the cuttings used for wreaths are dipped in preservatives so they will last until after Christmas.

The Huebners decided to go into the Christmas tree business after they both retired from long careers. Carole was a journalist for more than 20 years with the Centerville News; Steve was an ag agent for the Extension Service in Leon County.

“I learned a little about the Christmas tree business when I was an ag agent,” Steve explained. “At the time, we had a couple tree farms in the county – one near Leona and the other up around Marquez. Both are gone now, but I would help them with problems from time to time. But for the most part, it’s been a learn-as-you-go experience.”

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Carole added, “but it’s also a lot of work.”

Before planting that first crop five years ago, the Huebners installed a drip irrigation system.

“Christmas trees are far from drought tolerant,” Steve said.

The Huebners are members of the Texas Christmas Tree Growers Association, and that organization has a contract with a forestry company that provides seedlings.

“The Virginia pine is grown from seed, but the Leylands have to be grown from cuttings,” Steve said. “We buy plants started from cuttings from a company in Louisiana, then transplant them here.”

Once the trees are planted, the work begins.

“It will be 4 years before they can be sold, but we start preparing for that day when the trees are very young,” he said. “The trees have to be pruned so they are full, and they have to be shaped.”

Steve uses a tool that resembles a gas-powered Weed Eater to shape the trees, and that work has to be done twice a year. That’s no small job when you consider the Huebners have about 3,000 trees in the ground. The Huebners purposely leave a few Virginia pines shaggy so they can be used in Carole’s wreath-making business.

The Huebners sell their Christmas trees by the foot. Premium trees bring $6 a foot, so a 6-foot tree would cost $33. The farm also sells Leyland cypress trees that are growing in pots. That way, the trees can be enjoyed as a Christmas tree, then planted in the yard.

Huebner Christmas Tree Farm opens Friday, Nov. 27, and will be open 9 a.m. to dark Tuesday through Saturday and from 1 p.m. to dark on Sundays. Visitors should bring gloves, warm clothes and plenty of enthusiasm.

Centerville and other Leon County elementary schools have discovered the farm and have been scheduling visits. In addition to tours of the Christmas tree fields, the children will be treated to games, snacks and hayrides, Carole said.

Huebner Christmas tree Farm also is participating in a program that provides trees to families that have a mom or dad who is about to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan.

“We’ve become involved in Trees for Troops, and we are providing about 10 trees to families connected with the National Guard’s 112th Calvary Squadron in Bryan,” Carole said. “Soldiers will be coming out this week to cut the trees, and they will disperse them at a holiday party for the families.”