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Re: Christmas Trees



christmas trees in the northwest are grown two ways. One way, the trees are grown as a row crop 
with low grasses in between the rows for soil stability. Its nice. The other method is to 
completely denude the ground with herbicides that eliminate everything but the christmas 
tree.  It promotes heavy erosion and soil depletion and in my humble opinion sucks.Howard 
<pantry@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Jim McNelly wrote:
>
>
>2. Soil erosion
>Nearly all Christmas trees are grown by people in rural communities on
>marginal land that is subject to erosion or was the victim of erosion.
>Christmas tree farming is a method of subsidizing the cost of planting a
>sustainable wood lot that prevents erosion.
>
>
>
>Are there not other types of trees that could be grown on marginal land that 
>wouldn't need to be harvested at all? And wouldn't having a non-harvested 
>"wood lot" be more ecological and economical? As far as that goes, if you 
>can grow a great looking christmas tree, you should be able to grow other 
>types (fruit, nuts, lumber?). 
>
>If the land is marginal, how do they manage to grow such great trees? Let 
>me guess--by the input of large amounts of energy and chemicals. 
>Wouldn't that tend to cancel some of the other bennies you pointed out?
>
>Howard
>