Christmas tree growers meet in Tyrol after hot summer

Christmas tree growers from Austria and Germany met in Tyrol on Friday and Saturday to exchange experience, learn from one another and build contacts, ORF reported. Around 50 producers gathered at Johannes Astner’s farm in Reith im Alpbachtal on Saturday.

The growers said they wanted to highlight the work that goes into producing Christmas trees. A two-metre tree takes about 10 years to grow before it reaches consumers’ homes.

People in Tyrol buy around 120,000 to 130,000 Christmas trees each year. About half come from Tyrol, while the rest are imported from other Austrian states, Germany and Denmark.

Heat was the biggest challenge this year. In eastern Austria, drought killed up to 70 percent of newly planted trees, according to Josef Reithner, federal spokesman and chairman of Lower Austria’s Christmas tree growers. Larger trees also suffered sunburn and became unsuitable for sale.

Tyrol’s trees were affected less severely, but the heat still damaged young trees, said producer Jakob Feichtner from Reith im Alpbachtal. He said it remained unclear whether the heat would affect how long the trees retained their needles.

Some customers are already choosing the Christmas trees they plan to buy in September, even though the warm weather does not yet feel seasonal.