Christmas tree seedlings perished in eastern Nebraska
12/13/2023 10:43:13 PM
CATEGORIES:
Agriculture
Business & Industry
Plants & Wildlife
Tourism & Recreation
AFFECTED AREAS:
Douglas County, NE
Omaha, NE
Lancaster County, NE
Lincoln, NE
Washington County, NE
Blair, NE
Start Date: 4/1/2023
- End Date: 12/13/2023
Drought killed seedling Christmas trees this year in eastern Nebraska and likely slowed the growth of mature ones. Growers near Lincoln and Omaha stopped selling trees early to save some for future years.
A grower north of Omaha planted seedlings in April and then May turned out to be the driest on record for Omaha. They are trying a new strategy for tree planting in which they plant the seedlings into peat pots to get them started before putting them in the ground in the fall.
A Christmas tree grower north of Lincoln planted about a thousand Scotch pine seedlings and lost nearly all of them, due to the intensely dry conditions in April and May. The past two summers irrigation has been needed. Nebraska tree growers haven’t always needed irrigation as they have in recent years.
Omaha World-Herald (Neb.), Dec 13, 2023
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