Dry Weather Hurts Christmas Tree Farms In Michigan
LAINGSBURG, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - Recent dry weather is threatening Christmas trees at farms across central Michigan.
Ed Carpenter of Peacock Road Farm in Lainsburg, northeast of Lansing, tells WILX-TV that he's already lost about half of the 4,000 new trees that he has planted this year. But he says he's been hand-watering the remaining trees to keep them alive.
"It's a disaster for us," he said.
Carpenter says he almost stopped raising trees after a drought wiped out Peacock Road Farm during its first year in business.
Mel Koelling of Tannenbaum Farms in Mason tells the news station that he's had to bring in an irrigation system, which most tree farms don't need. He says it's the first time the farm has had to water trees of this size in almost 40 years of operation.
Koelling says even established trees are showing signs of damage.
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