Christmas tree shortage: Supplies tighter, prices up after years of drought

You may be paying more for your Christmas tree this year: and if you wait too long, you may have trouble even finding one.

Supplies are tight, for several reasons.

It can take up to 10 years for a Christmas tree to grow: which means we are *still seeing the impact of the 2008 recession, which drove many growers out of business.

Also, the western droughts a few years back killed large numbers of trees.

And finally: millennials who in general don't care for artificial trees, are driving up demand for the real thing.