Drought has Nebraska Christmas tree farmer pining for rain

BLUE SPRINGS, Neb. (KLKN) – Despite rainfall over the weekend, Nebraska remains in a severe drought.

That poses a problem for Christmas tree farmers like Gary Trump, who’s owned Pinecrest Tree Farm in Blue Springs for 31 years.

He planted seedlings in March, but many didn’t survive the drought.

“We planted about 2,400 seedlings, but I would say at least half have died from drought from the later summer,” he said.

He said luckily, he planned ahead and overplanted so he would have enough trees.

“We plant more than we really need because you’re lucky if you get enough to survive to keep you going,” he said. “We are a little bit low on trees now, but we’ll have plenty for this year and I think next year, too.”

But he’ll need to replant to replace the seedlings that died so he has enough trees to sell in the future.

“We’ll replant next year, put more seedlings in there,” he said.

And like most Nebraskans, he’s hoping for more rain to get out of the drought.

“The grass is greener than it was,” he said. “It was all brown a week ago.”

Despite the drought, Trump still plans to sell more than a thousand Christmas trees over the holiday season.