Not out of the woods: Wet winter won’t end drought for Nebraska Christmas tree farmer

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Nebraska is expected to have a warmer and wetter winter this year, but it might not be enough to get a local Christmas tree farmer out of the woods.

“If I wouldn’t have had drip irrigation on the seedlings this year, I probably would’ve lost 100% of them,” said Dennis Adams, the owner of Walnut Grove Tree Farm.

While most people only have a Christmas tree up for a month or two, Adams spends years getting a tree ready to take home.

He’s been in the business for about 35 years.

But this year, he had to make some changes — all because of the drought.

He said in years prior, he would get enough rain to carry him through each year.

“Sometimes we’d get a periodic drought that would cause some problems, but nothing like the last couple of years,” Adams said.

That’s why this year, he installed drip irrigation, which saved around 90-95% of his younger trees.

The seedlings that are 1 to 2 years old are especially prone to dying when they don’t get enough moisture.

This winter, the National Weather Service is predicting that Nebraska will have a warmer and wetter season than in the past couple of years.

“The beauty of wintertime precipitation is that it tends to be very efficient at getting moisture into the ground,” said Brian Barjenbruch, a meteorologist for the weather service. “And at this point in a drought, we are really looking to store some water in the dirt.”

Unfortunately, Barjenbruch said it might be too little, too late.

“Especially in some of those areas that are in the third or fourth category of the drought, that won’t be fixed over this winter, even if we get an amazing amount of precipitation,” he said.

Adams said even if he gets good snow, the irrigation system will likely stick around.

“I think it’s going to be a constant thing in the future as long as we’re in business,” he said.

Adams said Walnut Grove is normally open for the three weekends after Thanksgiving, but he’s already almost sold out of his trees this year.

So he said if you need one, this weekend might be your last chance.