Christmas Science 9: Irish Grown Christmas Trees

In the run up to Christmas, Communicate Science offers you 20 Christmas Science Facts. We'll post one every day until the 25th December.

Irish Grown Christmas Trees
A wide variety of tree species are cultivated worldwide as Christmas Trees.

For example, in the US, Douglas Fir, Scots Pine and Fraser Fir are all popular. In the UK, Nordmann Fir and Norway Spruce sell well.

According to the Irish Christmas Tree Growers Association (ICTG), Ireland's mild winters and cool summers, together with high levels of rainfall and free draining soils are ideal for growing a variety of popular Christmas tree types.

In Ireland, Noble Fir (Abies Procera) is the most popular tree due to its distinctive blue/green shading and its ability to retain its needles.

On average, it takes from 7-10 years for a tree to grow to the minimum height required for harvesting and it is estimated that less than 700,000 Nordmann and Noble Fir were planted each year since 2004.

The association estimates that there is a domestic market for around 500,000 trees and an existing export market of over 350,000 trees.