Abstract

Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana Mill.) is the most planted Christmas tree in the South and its production has remained stable over the past few years. Leyland cypress [x Cupressocyparis leylandii (A.B. Jacks. and Dallim.) and Dallim. and A.B. Jacks.] is relatively new to the market, but the number of trees harvested has increased dramatically in the past 5 years (over 600%) where as Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana L.) production shows little market growth over the past 5 years. Due to the long lag period from planting to harvest, the data to correlate planting to harvests of White pine (Pinus strobus L.) was limited. Pearson correlation coefficients support the idea that future Christmas tree harvests can be reliably estimated from existing and estimated tree planting data for Virginia pine, White pine, Redcedar and Leyland cypress in the short term. With this information, growers can make better decisions regarding the numbers and species of trees to produce and be able to choose an appropriate marketing approach.