The Christmas Tree:
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 During the past 40 years, the market for real Christmas trees has faced stiff competition from artificial trees (Anonymous, 1996, 1999a, Baumann, 1996, Davis, 1996, Drake, 1999, Kerwin, 1994, Koelling, 1999 and McKinley, 1998). While the total number of all types of Christmas trees used by consumers has increased from about 30 million trees in the late 1950’s to 70 to 75 million trees today, the total market for real trees has been flat. In 1960, about 31 million trees were harvested. This has only increased to 33 to 36 million trees today, even though the U. S. population and number of households have more than doubled. The percentage of households using a real tree has declined from 73.5% in 1950 to 32.3% in 1995. The highest use of real trees is in the west (70%), while the lowest use is in the south central part of the nation.

Today there is an increased emphasis on growing conifer species that have superior postharvest needle and moisture retention characteristics. This last trend is evident in North America as well as Europe (Albers and Davis, 1997, Davidson, 1999, Davis, 1996, Frampton and McKinley, 1999, and Tompkins 1999a & b). This shift has coincided with decreased production of Scots pine and to a lesser extent Douglas-fir. In Europe, the increased production of Nordmann (A. nordmanniana) and noble fir is displacing Norway spruce in their markets

Noble and Fraser fir are generally considered to have the highest postharvest quality of any Christmas tree available in the U.S. today (Chastagner, 1990, Hinesley, 1984 & 1990, Hinesley and Huxster, 1991, Hinesley and Chastagner, 1993 and Hinesley and Snelling, 1994 and Mitcham-Butler et al., 1988). When displayed in water at 20ºC, these species can be expected to maintain high moisture levels with very little needle loss for at least six weeks. The Pacific Northwest (PNW) and North Carolina lead the nation in the production of noble and Fraser fir Christmas trees. Overall, the PNW and North Carolina produced about 60% of the 33 million trees harvested in 1998. Nationally, Oregon ranks number 1, producing about 9 million trees per year, followed by North Carolina at 7.5 million trees. Washington is tied with Michigan in third, producing about 4 million trees per year (Anonymous, 1999b, www.christree.org , and www.nwtrees.com ).