Iowa Christmas tree farms doing better this year despite ongoing drought

Iowa Christmas tree farms doing better despite ongoing drought

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(ABC 6 News) — Weather has been all over the place recently in Iowa from last year’s drought to this past weekend’s ice storm.

For the state’s tree farmers, this can have an impact on their businesses.

One farmer lost the majority of his seedlings last year because they weren’t big enough to soak up enough water.

Even though over half of Iowa is in a moderate drought once again, farmers have seen more success this year largely due to what they learned last year.

“We put all our seedlings in, and then we went in and put mulch around all of them. We talked to a couple different tree farmers, one up by Cedar Falls, and he said he had great results the prior year during the drought,” said Co-Owner of Cedar’s Edge Evergreen Market Mike Banowetz.

It takes years for each Christmas tree to reach its ideal size, so it could take a while for the supply to catch up with demand if the dry weather continues.