SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) –Like all farmers in KELOLAND, Christmas tree growers are impacted by the weather. And of course this year, like all others, had plenty of ups and downs.
Todd Gannon, owner of the Riverview Christmas Tree farm near Canton is ready for the rush of people in search of that perfect tree. But the journey to grow that tree from start to finish is no easy task.
“Most of our Christmas trees come from the Pacific northwest, so they like cool wet weather, which isn’t exactly what we’ve been getting in South Dakota the past few years.”
Those hot and dry spells are especially hard on the baby trees, just getting their start.
“Two and a half years ago we put in an irrigation system and that has really been our saving grace to keeping our trees growing, alive, and getting really nice full trees.”
After a record dry stretch in September and October, having recent nice November rain has been very important to helping those trees survive another cold winter on the plains.
“Some of our biggest challenges actually come in the winter from cold winds. The trees actually don’t go completely dormant, so we’ve come out of the winters sometimes losing 50% of our baby trees from the year before, so having that moisture is really important for their survival.”
And of course, the moisture coming our way now will likely be more snow than rain.
The right amount of snow cover is good. Too much or too much hard-packing snow is hard on them, but light snow cover shields them from the wind and really helps them survive.
