People may be cutting back, but tree growers are cutting down in anticipation of business as usual this holiday season.
"Everybody wants a Christmas tree," said Skip Upton, owner of Christmas Country tree farm in Plaistow. "Last year, the economy was bad and it was no problem at all."
James Horst, executive director of the New Hampshire-Vermont Christmas Tree Association, said most wholesale tree farms in New Hampshire and Vermont that supply local vendors are sold out or close to it.
"If that's an indicator, things are going to be fine," he said.
Horst sells wholesale trees himself, and he said very few of his customers are cutting back on their orders.
"The signs are looking reasonable," he said. "I'm not hearing tales of doom and gloom."
At Sunnycrest Farm in Londonderry, cut-your-own trees are available one weekend a year, so owner Dan Hicks can keep his selection strong for the next season.
"Sales are different than they were a few years ago, but it's a tough economy. There's no doubt about it," Hicks said. "From what I've heard in the business, we're all struggling to keep customers."
But Hicks said he doesn't worry much because tradition keeps people buying trees, despite changing economic circumstances.
"We've always had the same people coming back every year, and it's definitely a traditional thing for us," he said.
Hicks said cut-your-own farms like Sunnycrest don't have to worry about over-ordering cut trees that could go unsold.
"The advantage to us is if they don't cut them, we still have them for the next year," he said.
Sunnycrest will sell trees Dec. 5 and 6.
Tim Wolfe, owner of Lake Street Garden Center in Salem, orders trees from Maine in small batches to keep them fresh and to avoid ordering too many. Wolfe said he sold more than 200 trees last year.
"We were able to try to keep the price down last year because of the economy," he said.
Trees of any size went for $29.99 last year, but this year they will sell for $39.99, Wolfe said, because the farm in Maine cannot keep its prices so low for another year.
"Hopefully, people remember that we tried to help them out with the tree when it was nasty," he said.
Already, Wolfe said, he has seen a bigger buzz about Christmas this year than last, when he said people were more unsure about the future.
"I think (people) are looking more forward to Christmas," he said. "Everything was just so on fire for a long time, and everybody had to get back to what normal was."
At Freshwater Farms in Atkinson, pre-cut trees sold out last year, despite the farm being hit by the ice storm and losing power for several days. If being without heat did not stop people from buying trees, florist and greenhouse manager Rhonda Locke said, then she is confident they will keep coming back.
"Everybody that's come in (to the Christmas store) has been very excited," she said. "I think they're just tired of cutting back."
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