Hanauer's Tree Farms Award-Winning

By Jane Fyksen, Crops Editor
Monday, November 20, 2006 6:02 PM CST

Hanauer Family

Hanauer's Tree Farms will present a Canaan Fir this year to Governor Jim Doyle for display in the State Capitol in Madison.

It's by no means a new honor for this Shawano Christmas tree operation, which has had a grand-champion tree grace the Capitol before. They presented a balsam in 1990 to then-Governor Tommy Thompson.

This year, for the first time in the history of the Wisconsin Christmas Tree Producers Association summer conference competition, co-champions were chosen. The Hanauer family is sharing "official tree" laurels with fellow growers Jim and Diane Chapman of Silent Night Evergreens at Endeavor. Chapmans (previously featured in Agri-View) will present a Concolor Fir. It's a white fir, a western tree that's not commonly grown here in Wisconsin. Hanauers grow Concolor Fir, too, but as noted, they'll present a Canaan - a recognized sub-specie of the Balsam that's naturally occurring.

Hanauer's Tree Farms, fittingly located on Christmas Tree Lane, is operated by Dan Hanauer Sr., 73, and his wife, Veronica, and their son and daughter-in-law, Dan, Jr. and Julie. Agri-View recently visited with the younger generation about the business, launched in 1966. Dan (Jr.), the oldest of six children, harvested his first Christmas trees in 1976, as a senior in high school.

Dan Sr. was originally from the Milwaukee area, Veronica from Whitewater. The elder Dan earned a master's degree in horticulture from UW-Madison and worked for a time as an ag chemicals sales rep. He didn't like being on the road so much, so instead, he opened a clothing store in Shawano, which he ran into the late '70s. The family also began planting Christmas trees, with the intent that Dan and his siblings would use the money for college. Dan admits as a teen, he wasn't crazy about planting trees but quickly discovered "there is a point to all of this" when the first trees were sold.

However, he earned a scholarship and appointment to West Point, so money saved for college was instead diverted to the purchase of a second farm. A third farm was purchased, and Dan, his brother, Dave, and their folks ran the operation until Dave sold his interest. Dave also attended West Point and today is vice-president of a plastics company in Chicago.

The family simply continued planting trees and expanding with the idea they'd be ready for harvest when Dan got out of the Army. Dan, who has a master's degree in business administration, has been a full-time Christmas tree producer for 20 years, returning to join the business his folks launched on Christmas Day 1986. Dan, 47, retired from the Reserves two years ago as a major.

Today, the two generations of tree growers have Christmas trees on 18 properties in Shawano, Langlade and Oconto counties. They have 500 acres in trees, 25 percent of the land owned, the majority leased. Theirs is among the larger Christmas tree operations in Wisconsin, and they are in the minority as full-time growers.

Julie, originally from Delevan, had worked as a school counselor for 11 years in the Shawano-Gresham district. Today, she's full-time on the tree farm, helping her husband with the books and raising their children, Jack 8, and Sophia, 3. Veronica works part-time in the same school district as a speech and language therapist.

Dan says his folks are the anchor of this family farm. He recalls when his mom sheared trees in the summer, kids in tow. His dad specializes in sales today. Both Dan Sr. and Veronica are integral to the continued success of Hanauer's Tree Farms, he stresses.

Their No. 1 Christmas tree is the Balsam (knocking Scotch Pine off the throne). Balsams made up 40 percent of their harvest this year. Expertly sheared, Hanauers' balsams are perfectly cone-shaped. A Balsam is a fragrant tree with sturdy branches and natural ends, making it the "ornament lover's tree." It's lightweight with a small-to-medium trunk, and with reasonable care, will last from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

No. 2 is the Fraser Fir, with 30 percent of Hanauers' harvest; it's highly sought after by the public and commands a higher price than a comparable Balsam will. Their hardy northern-grown Fraser First don't have heavy trunks like Frasers from other regions. Again, this family prides itself in its expert shearing and perfectly shaped trees.

They're planting comparable numbers of both species, trying to anticipate demand 10 years down the road. "You think playing poker is hard," Dan remarks.

He says the Balsam is easier to grow, but it's a lower-priced tree. The "perception" is that Frasers last longer, but he frankly doesn't know. "Both have a good shelf life," he notes.

To spread risk, the remaining 30 percent is divided between Scotch and White Pines, White and Blue Spruce and Canaan Fir. The latter - their award-winner - is a naturally occurring fir from the Canaan Valley of West Virginia. The Canaan Fir, which the Hanauers will present in conjunction with the official lighting ceremony of the giant tree in the capitol rotunda, exhibits traits of both the Balsam and Fraser. It's coveted for its aroma, has the smaller lighter trunk of the Balsam but with silver under-sided foliage and branch structure of the Fraser.

"It's darker green with a wider blunter needle that's more silvery underneath. It looks a little more like a Fraser," he describes of an "intermediate look" between a Balsam and Fraser. This tree will grow on sites where Frasers might struggle.

Of the trees mentioned, Balsam, White Pine and White Spruce are the only ones native to Wisconsin. The Blue Spruce is a western tree. The Fraser is in a small area in the mountains of North Carolina and West Virginia. The Scotch Pine is a European tree.

While the Scotch Pine had traditionally been the mainstay Christmas tree, Dan says it's "clearly in decline." It has a lot of disease problems, he notes. What's more, growers like getting away from having to artificially color Scotch Pines, as has been the tradition.

They plant about 50 acres a year (roughly the same amount of acreage they retire every year), utilizing a sorghum-sudan cover to enrich the soil and filling in by hand where young trees die. This family is nearing the end of expansion and is also concentrating on wholesale sales. They used to do choose-and-cut and have retail lots in Green Bay and Appleton. Today, they only have one retail lot in Shawano, at the hardware store. They concentrate on wholesaling trees all over the U.S. and Canada. They've shipped trees as far as Alaska. They don't, however, ship many west of the Rockies. That market tends to be supplied by another prominent Christmas-tree-growing area in Washington and Oregon, which tends not to ship their trees to the Midwest. That's because those western-grown trees aren't hardy. They'll turn brown like a houseplant in a cold snap. The hardiness of Badger State trees is a huge advantage for growers here, versus those in the far western tree-growing region.

Hanauer's Tree Farms focus on producing a "top quality product" and "service." Their customers aren't "box stores" like Wal-Mart, Dan stresses, but high-end independent garden centers.

This operation has its own seed orchard and has grown seedlings with the goal of population improvement. The Hanauers are, though, moving toward having seed custom-grown.

Christmas trees start life as seedlings for the first 2 to 3 years. They look like pencils 3 to 6 inches tall. Next it's to the transplant beds where they grow another 2 to 3 years, to about 18 inches. Thus, the trees are 4 to 6 years old before they're ever planted in the production fields. They average 10 years out in the field, reaching 7 to 8 feet. Thus a Balsam or Fraser might be 15 years old (between seed and harvest). The Hanauers have their own transplant beds. They buy both "plugs" from the greenhouse and "bare root" seedlings grown outside, which Dan prefers because it's more "natural."

Dan characterizes this past growing season as a mixed bag. Drought in July and August caused "horrible mortality" in new plantings. While they irrigate in their "nursery," Dan is "contemplating" drip irrigation in drier fields. Years ago, they irrigated with a traveling gun but gave it up as it was too labor-intensive.

However, it was a good year for established trees. The wet cool fall resulted in harvested trees loaded with moisture. That's good news for buyers.

All Christmas trees prefer moist, well-drained soil. However, the Fraser in particular cannot tolerate wet feet. It's highly susceptible to phytophthora root rot. It's also "extraordinarily sensitive" to pH, needing the 5.5 to 6 range. The Balsam has the same ideal pH range, but it "more adaptable" outside the narrow window.

Pines, on the other hand, can be grown on more marginal ground, evidenced by Scotch Pine production in the Central Sands.

Frasers - which are trickier to grow - are also sensitive to temperature on both ends of the spectrum, but probably hot weather more so than extreme cold. There is a swatch across the central portion of Wisconsin where growers can turn out nice Frasers. (That includes Hanauers' neck of the woods.)

What's the key to success in the Christmas tree business? "Persistence over time," says Dan after some careful thought. With the "crop" in the field so many years, there are many threats, and it takes perseverance for the long haul.

Dan says a primary nemesis is the white grub, the larval stage of the June bug. It eats tree roots of young trees under three feet tall and has the potential to destroy an entire planting. It's tricky treating this underground pest with insecticide.

Deer are a close second on the list of threats, and "Frasers are deer candy," says Dan. He's been experimenting with fabric tape with a spray scent to repel deer. While the jury is still out, he says it seemed to reduce damage this season.

Weather has the No. 3 slot. It was dry at critical times this year and he lost 20,000 very young trees.

The Hanauers' production year begins in the spring when they dig transplants from their nursery and plant them in the field. Fertilizer, herbicide and insecticide is also applied in the spring. They dig many trees, too, for sales into the landscape industry out of their fields.

Shearing starts in mid-June on the pines. All the buds for future years' growth are at the end of the branches on pines. They'll set new buds during the growing season; shearing needs to be done early for good bud set. Then, the firs are sheared. Buds on firs are already there all along the branch. Their goal is to be done shearing by Labor Day. However, they'll shear smaller firs and spruce throughout winter.

Dan calls shearing the "single most important 10 minutes in the life of a tree." "That's what makes our trees different," he says, crediting his dad with perfecting a shearing technique and look to their trees over the years that he likens to creating a "work of art."

They also tag trees with one of three USDA grades. "There's a lot of work on foot," says Dan of applying different-colored ribbons to trees during the summer they intend to market.

Scotch Pines are sprayed with a water-based dye in September, and they start harvesting the end of October. They cut and bale pines, after shaking needles the trees naturally shed every year with a mechanical shaker. Dan likens baling a fresh tree to taking a wet bath towel and rolling it up; it stays wet. Trees are stacked in the shade. The baling reduces air circulation and keeps trees from drying out.

Frasers and Balsams are harvested next, followed by Spruce, which have the shortest shelf life.

"Seasonal needle loss is part of the growing process. It doesn't mean it's not fresh," he stresses.

Don't blame tree growers for the early harvest; that's the consumers' call. The Christmas tree season is getting earlier, as stores want trees on hand for open houses and special promos in November. Their biggest week of shipping is the week before Thanksgiving, when all they do is load truck after truck with trees.

While Hanauer's Tree Farms employs four non-family members year-round, their workforce swells to up to 35 at the busiest times of the year, or which harvest is the most hectic. They'll hire 20 people at shearing time, too.

People ask Dan what they do the rest of the winter. He says there's lot of paperwork involved in this business. For instance, they mail out a price list to 6,000 potential customers every year.

Dan says the last two years the real-tree industry has seen significant increases in demand. He's hoping the public is rediscovering the "intrinsic value" of celebrating with "something real." He likens a fake tree to giving your sweetheart fake roses you pull off the shelf at Valentine's Day every year. "Here you go honey," he compares.

Supply and demand at present in the Christmas tree industry is "within reason," notes Dan, who adds, "There's never been an excess of quality trees." He continues to foresee "strong demand" for top-quality trees. While some people might balk at spending $40 or more for an eight-foot balsam, Dan says a family will enjoy that tree for a month or more. For the centerpiece of the Christmas season in the home, the cost is quite reasonable.

He stresses that real trees are environmental sound, too. They're a sustainable crops and habitat for wildlife. Trees sequester carbon, while fake trees are produced with "petroleum" and wire, he compares.

As for their own choice, Dan and Julie choose a 10 to 12-foot Balsam. Julie loves the "fragrance."

"When the craziness (of harvest and shipping) ends after Thanksgiving, we go across the road and cut trees for both families," says Julie. "Dan and Veronica have a tree outside on the porch. It's so beautiful covered with snow. We make a fire in the fireplace, and the kids love decorating."

Comments »

Comment on this story

Comments will be approved within 48 hours

Name:

Email: (optional)

Comments:

Image Verification: (Case sensitive)