{"id":52499,"date":"2013-12-05T01:07:35","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T15:07:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=52499"},"modified":"2020-12-07T14:55:16","modified_gmt":"2020-12-07T04:55:16","slug":"debbies-special-christmas-crop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/12\/05\/debbies-special-christmas-crop\/","title":{"rendered":"Debbie’s Special Christmas Crop"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Debbie Bunker with some of her Christmas trees ready for harvest<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

December 6, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many farmers grow seasonal crops, but Debbie Bunker’s harvest is more seasonal than most … her pine trees are grown for just one purpose: Christmas.<\/p>\n

The Inverlaw farmer began raising Christmas trees about four years ago.<\/p>\n

Her husband Chris grows duboisia and runs cattle but Debbie was looking for something a little bit different.<\/p>\n

She hit on the idea of growing radiata pine trees and purchased some tubestock from NSW.<\/p>\n

When that source dried up, she began growing the trees from seed.<\/p>\n

Raising Christmas trees isn’t a simple matter of planting them out and then waiting a few years.<\/p>\n

Each of the trees has to be carefully pruned and shaped so they grow bushy at the base and then taper neatly to a point.<\/p>\n

“We trim them three times a year so they bush up rather than turn into a spindly pine,” she said.<\/p>\n

Debbie does some of the pruning, but calls on husband Chris to trim the larger saplings.<\/p>\n

For the past three years, Debbie has been selling Christmas trees in pots via a wholesale distributor in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

“They sell everything that we can grow – this year we sold 750 – and they go all over Queensland,” she said.<\/p>\n

The potted plants are sold in three different size containers: 180mm, 250mm and 400mm and very in size up to chest height. After they’ve served their purpose as a living Christmas tree they can always be planted outside.<\/p>\n

However, this year, Debbie has also branched out into cut Christmas trees.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The pines, which can stay fresh for up to four weeks after they are harvested, are available from six foot to nine foot tall.<\/p>\n

She now has at least 800 in the ground, in various stages of maturity. She harvested the first ones this month.<\/p>\n

Debbie is marketing the trees under the name “Chrissy Trees 4U”.<\/p>\n

They’re available at Ross Evans Garden Centres in Brisbane and Runaway Bay, as well as directly from the farm at 328 Reedy Creek Road, Inverlaw; nearby Mulanah Gardens B&B, and the Chrissy Trees 4U Facebook page<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Debbie said deliveries can be organised in the local area. The Bunkers have also purchased a special baling machine to make transport easier.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Farming Christmas trees … sections of the Bunkers’ property are planted with trees at various stages of development; there’s also a nursery full of young plants<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many farmers grow seasonal crops, but Debbie Bunker’s harvest is more seasonal than most … her pine trees are grown for just one purpose: Christmas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":52502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,3,36],"tags":[366,1134],"yoast_head":"\nDebbie's Special Christmas Crop - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/12\/05\/debbies-special-christmas-crop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Debbie's Special Christmas Crop - southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Many farmers grow seasonal crops, but Debbie Bunker's harvest is more seasonal than most ... her pine trees are grown for just one purpose: Christmas.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/12\/05\/debbies-special-christmas-crop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-04T15:07:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-07T04:55:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/20131206trees1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"385\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/12\/05\/debbies-special-christmas-crop\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/12\/05\/debbies-special-christmas-crop\/\",\"name\":\"Debbie's Special Christmas Crop - 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