Real Christmas trees to cost 10 per cent more this holiday season

If you're planning on buying a real Christmas tree over the next week or two, you may discover they’re more expensive and harder to find.

"The last three years have definitely taken a toll on inventory and we are planting 4,000 trees every summer to try and keep up," Danielle Grencer, with The Family Run Christmas Tree Farm in Stouffville, Ont., told CTV News Toronto Wednesday.

Extreme weather conditions ranging from heat waves to flooding in some parts of the country have hurt supplies, but also, as families stayed close to home during the pandemic, many switched back to a traditional Christmas tree.

"We had a lot of new people choose trees that used to use artificial trees and they had such a great experience, they now come back every year and make it a tradition,” Grencer said.

That’s the case for Derek Ma and Tammy Yuen who were at Grencer’s Tree Farm Wednesday to buy a Christmas tree.

"It's the highlight of my Christmas season – just to come to a farm and look around and browse the trees. It doesn't have to be perfectly triangular. It smells very nice for the rest of the season and we really enjoy that," Yuen said.

Prices will differ depending on the retailer or tree farm but the Canadian Christmas Trees Association (CCTA) said prices are up about ten per cent over last year.

"If you can't get the tree you're used to buying all the time, look at some of the other species that farmers grow," Shirley Brennan, executive director of the CCTA, said.

You can still find real trees for less than $50 dollars, but premium larger trees will cost hundreds of dollars or more.

The CCTA said thinner, smaller and even table top trees are a popular choice depending on where you live.

"The houses are smaller, living quarters are getting smaller, so a big 8 foot to ten foot tree doesn't fit in certain spaces anymore," Brennan said.

Roughly 20,000 acres of tree farms, the equivalent to 30 million trees, have disappeared over the past decade and seedlings take 8 to 10 years to grow into a tree ready for market.

Still, the CCTA is glad there’s renewed interest in real trees and believes their industry has a bright future.