Wis. Christmas tree farms sustain drought damage

By ASSOCIATED PRESS   Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012
ADVERTISEMENT
 

— Wisconsin Christmas tree farms lost tens of thousands of trees to drought conditions this year.

New figures from state agriculture officials show more than 1 in 5 tree farms sustained drought damage.

Nearly a million Christmas trees are harvested on Wisconsin's 1,100 farms each year. The drought hit growers in southern Wisconsin especially hard, as well as those in the central sands region, including Waushara, Marquette, Adams and Waupaca counties. In those counties, state inspectors found 40 percent of more trees died.

At Ottman Family Christmas Tree Farm in Pewaukee, all of the 5,000 seedlings planted by Ken Ottman this year have died. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Ottman bought trees from northern Wisconsin wholesalers to sell at his lot.




reader COMMENTS

Before you post a comment, consider this:

Note: Walworthcountytoday.com does not condone or review every comment. Read more in our User Policy Agreement
  • Keep it clean. Comments that are obscene, vulgar or sexually oriented will be removed. Creative spelling of such terms or implied use of such language is banned, also.
  • Don't threaten to hurt or kill anyone.
  • Be nice. No racism, sexism or any other sort of -ism that degrades another person.
  • Harassing comments. If you are the subject of a harassing comment or personal attack by another user, do not respond in-kind.  Hit the "Suggest Removal" button on offensive comments.
  • Share what you know. Give us your eyewitness accounts, background, observations and history.
  • Do not libel anyone. Libel is writing something false about someone that damages that person's reputation.
  • Ask questions. What more do you want to know about the story?
  • Stay focused. Keep on the story's topic.
  • Help us get it right. If you spot a factual error or misspelling, email onlineeditor@communityshoppers.com or
    call 1-262-728-3424, extension 108
  • Remember, this is our site. We set the rules, and we reserve the right to remove any comments that we deem inappropriate.

Post Comment

Commenting requires registration.

Username:
Password: (Forgotten your password?)

Comment:

ADVERTISEMENT