Dec. 8, 2011 - At the McNew Star M Christmas Tree Plantation in Quinlan, it is all about the real thing. Owner Claudette McNew, who is the vice president of the Texas Christmas Tree Growers Association, believes in what is natural and real. She likes real sugar in her coffee, an old-fashioned Coca-Cola and, of course, she and her family love their real Christmas trees.
"We started growing in 1979, and we started selling in about 1985," McNew said. "Most of our customers have been coming here for years and years, and now their children are bringing their families."
McNew and her family grow their trees on approximately 45 acres on nine fields of trees. Some of them have 200 trees and others have 400 trees. Families are invited to roam the plantation, pick out and cut down their own Christmas. Along the way, there are various activities including a rubber duck race, tricycle race track, climbing wall, maze and even a train depot where the kids can go on a ride in Santa's barrel train. There's also a gift shop where guests can enjoy hot cider, hot chocolate and ice cream.
One of McNew's favorite features of the farm is the angel choir display. Although they love Santa at the plantation, the McNew family wants to make sure children remember the reason for the season.
There are several varieties of Christmas trees at the plantation, including the Leyland Cypress, which does not produce any pollen, they are as close to hypoallergenic as the allergy sufferer who wants a real tree can get. To decrease the possibility of outside allergens, McNew has some extra advice.
"Anything in the outdoors can give people allergies from the mold and the dust that are in the outdoors," McNew explained. "So, we always recommend that before you bring your tree in your house you wash it off real good and then shake it and let it dry and then bring it in. That should help with any of the dust that might collect on it."
It takes about six years to grow a six-foot tree. In the beginning stages, trees require extra maintenance by the McNew Plantation crew to ensure they grow to be picture-perfect Christmas trees.
"You trim off about an inch or two each year," she said. "You try to trim your top part so that you have a fuller middle part, but then you start trimming it on down and shaping it so that it becomes a Christmas tree shape. In that direction, it takes about two sheerings a year. In this summer, since it was a drought, we didn't have to do but one sheering and a very light touch-up sheering. We didn't get the height that we normally do, so we are around eight foot. I know we have some nine footers, but we are around eight foot on average."
While many Christmas tree farms may have sacrificed tree growth and quality amidst this year's drought, the McNew Christmas Tree Plantation has been able to utilize their irrigation system to keep their trees looking their best. Once cut, McNew said customers can keep the fresh beauty of their trees with a few simple steps.
"After you bring the tree in your house, you want to put it in water immediately and never let that water get below the cut line," Mcnew said. "They do produce rosin, and whenever you trim the tree it covers itself. That will actually seal up the bottom of the tree and it won't drink water. Sometimes, I tell people, if they have got the tree all decorated up and they call me saying it isn't drinking water, to take out as much water as they can and pour a liter of Sprite or 7Up. It has some sugar in it, and the bubbly stuff kind of helps break it up."
When possible, McNew suggests making a thin, fresh cut from the bottom of the tree before putting it in the tree stand to ensure it can immediately start utilizing the water.
"The first four days -- water, water, water, just like you would watch a bouquet of flowers," she said. "After that, it sort of settles down and it becomes a very nice, easy Christmas tree to take care of."
Besides the holidays, there are lots of uses for the Christmas tree that McNew likes for her customers to take advantage of so the tree is not wasted before or after its holiday use. The farm makes Virginia Pine tea with added citrus before the trees are cut, and then mulches them and for flower beds once they have served their holiday purpose.
"You can use that because it is natural," McNew said. "That is why we promote the natural, because it can be recycled. In doing so, you are helping the environment. When you grow trees like this, they do help produce oxygen and, of course, they look pretty growing. We like to know that our trees are going to have a home at someone's home this Christmas and that afterwards they are going to reuse them in their flower beds or whatever. It will have a second life."
If customers bring their trees back, they can mulch the trees there, but McNew said many cities have a mulching service.
To find out more about the plantation visit them at www.christmastreemcnew.com.
