Evergreens can’t resprout from the stump if the stump is cut too low, explains Dave Jacke, an ecological landscape designer who is writing a book about the history and ecology of coppicing. “I firmly believe they are like a bonsai tree and have the potential to outlive me,” says Van Driesche whose book about the farm will be published in May.Ī Christmas tree growing out of the stump of another tree at Pieropan Christmas Tree Farm.Īlthough we humans have shaped our woodland habitats with coppicing since prehistoric times, the practice was primarily used for broadleaf trees, not evergreens. He believes it to be the oldest continuous operation growing Christmas trees from stump sprouts, and he sees no sign that his stumps are slowing down. Van Driesche, who sells about 500 trees each year, took over the farm from its original owner, Al Pieropan, almost a decade ago. “It’s a very rich ecosystem-that’s a big part of its value,” Van Driesche says. Different plant and tree species commingle with the evergreens, and insects and other animals are more than welcome. A single stump can support an older tree and a younger tree at the same time, thereby increasing production. By contrast, Pieropan’s owner, Emmet Van Driesche, doesn’t fertilize, spray or irrigate his trees, most of which were planted decades ago. Most conventional Christmas tree farms require intensive land management with fertilizers and insecticides, and after a tree is cut down, its stump must be dug out and a new tree replanted. Pieorpan Farm’s trees are grown using a land management technique called stump culture, or coppicing-cutting down trees to allow new shoots to form from the stump. In fact, it might take a good 10 minutes of hiking before they spy a tree with the classic skirted triangle shape-and when they do, they’ll realize that it’s a few feet off the ground, growing off a stump. Customers who walk the maze of paths through Pieropan’s hillside balsam grove won’t see a single row of trees. That image wouldn’t be far off for most of the 15,000 or so Christmas tree farms in the U.S., but it’s not at all what you’d see at Pieropan Christmas Tree Farm, located in a speck of a western Massachusetts town called Ashfield. Even if you’ve never been to a Christmas tree farm, you can probably call up a mental picture: a field of shapely evergreens growing in orderly, well-spaced rows.
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