Ho no: The summer water Scrooge that is hitting Christmas tree crop now will be felt in the future

It makes no difference where you live, this story is a tough one to bear: An NBC affiliate in Iowa is reporting that this year's drought could already have some negative impact on Christmas trees in eight years or so, and a long while on those who grow them. "We started planting trees on our farm in 1980 and fought a couple of bad years but this is by far the worse we've seen," Bob Moulds, who owns Wapsie Pines Tree Farm in Fairbank, Iowa, told KWWL of Waterloo. (KWWL photo)

Moulds said the most popular Christmas tree, a fir, has been hit the hardest by the heat and drought. Crop losses have been significant. "Most of our losses are in this year's planting. And in this particular area over 50 percent. And before it's over I think almost all of them will be gone," Moulds said. The grower has already taken steps for the shortage of trees his farm will see in the future, ordering extra seedlings to "make up the difference because in about eight years from now we'll probably have a little gap in the number of trees we have available." He said some fir growers in Wisconsin and Michigan have also lost everything they've planted. (Read more)