Families are flocking to get a real Christmas tree. Here are tips for keeping it fresh

Sales are booming at Sid’s Christmas Trees in Clovis, mirroring a nationwide trend with the coronavirus pandemic in its ninth month.

Lot owner Sid Boolootian, who has 42 years of experience selling Christmas trees from Oregon in the Fresno area, said he’s taken aback by the early sales.

“It’s been an awesome start of the season. I’d say we’re about 50% above last year in sales, minimum.” Plus, he said, “flocking is just out of sight, I can’t keep up. I’ve already shot more flock now than I’d done all last year” when he sold out of trees.

No one tracks annual sales of real trees because independent tree lots are so scattered, but those in the business estimate about 20 million trees or more are sold each year, most of them at big box stores such as Costco and Home Depot.

But at some pick-your-own-tree farms, customers sneaked in well before Thanksgiving to tag the perfect tree to cut down once the business opened. As demand surges, big box stores are seeking fresh trees up to a week earlier than last year, and Walmart is offering free home delivery for the first time.

Why? It’s a response to dealing with COVID-19, many say.

“People are just getting out of the house, they want to get outside,” Boolootian said.

The growing interest in real trees comes after the industry has struggled to attract new, younger customers in recent years as more Americans buy artificial trees.

Between 75% and 80% of Americans who have a Christmas tree now have an artificial one, and the $1 billion market for fake trees has been growing by about 4% a year — despite them being reusable.

But this year, Boolootian said, “people who have fake trees, what they’re doing is wanting a memory, an experience, so they’re coming with their kids who have never been on a Christmas tree lot, and they’re having a memory out here picking out a real tree, and it’s awesome to see.

”I have my regular customers every year but it’s kinda neat to see all these new faces who haven’t experienced this before.”

How to keep your tree fresh

Many offer direction for keeping a cut tree fresh through the holidays, from Martha Stewart to Good Housekeeping.

Sid’s tips for caring for a real tree are pretty simple:

• Keep your house temperature at 72 degrees and below.
• Keep your tree away from heat, like heat vents, and away from fireplaces.
• Keep plenty of water in the tree’s water bowl.