Christmas trees, it’s not something you think about in the middle of the summer, with this extreme heat. Nevertheless, dozens of Christmas tree growers from home and abroad come together in Maarheeze to exchange experiences and tips. Hiding under an umbrella against the burning sun, they stand on this summer Wednesday between the trees on a plot on the edge of Maarheeze. Because although Christmas is still far away, the growers are already working on it. Although it is somewhat abandoned at these temperatures.
“It is actually way too hot, we hope it will cool quickly,” says Kweker Uwe from Bavaria, Germany. He is worried about the quality of the still young tiny trees and points to brown branches: “That is not good and is because of the extreme heat. This again is not good for the production of Christmas trees because they suffer from the heat and burn,” he says.
The most important thing is to exchange experiences with each other, says Uwe. He hopes that people again buy a real tree en masse this year.
Due to the heat, the program has been shortened, and the growers are more likely to get the wine. Although yours, as a real German, prefer beer: “I come from Bavaria and there we drink beer.”
“Yes it is extreme weather,” says Gerard Krol from Boekel. He is chairman of the Dutch Christmas tree growers association. “The trees are having a hard time. If you look normally, the whole field is full of people. Now everyone stays in the shade and not in the field, that’s a shame.”
The fact that the tree growers meet in the middle of the summer has a good reason Gerard says: “We are working with those trees all year round, but now we have time to get together and exchange experiences.”
According to him, the sale of trees in our country is doing: “Every year we see a growth of four to five percent. Many young people in particular opt for a real tree, because it is much more environmentally friendly than a plastic artificial tree.”
Martin Raaijmakers is puffing on the edge of the field. He is a grower in Nuenen: “What we learn from each other here is working with other types of trees on other grounds. How does he get such a beautiful green tree? How does another deal with pruning and weeding weeds? We learn a lot from each other.”
The heat is when you are in the shade, he thinks: “It’s a bit like on vacation and we are together with nice people. We enjoy a drink and a snack, so that’s going well.”
And with those trees it will be fine despite today’s heat, the growers think. Because in the Netherlands they can be sprayed happily.
