What to do with old Christmas Tree Farm

[Yfoiler]

Last year I purchased an 11 acre Christmas Tree Farm that had not been maintained very well. The gentleman I bought it from was quite elderly and just wanted out. He had not pruned or maintained the property very well for several years, so it was priced quite resonably. The trees (about 1500) have not been pruned in years and many are growing into each other---I don't believe they are saleable as Christmas Trees as they look awful, with double leaders and are very badly shaped. I figured I would go in and "thin the forest" to make as natural looking hillside tree forest as possible trying to get away from the "grove look" and then just let them grow. Is this a mistake?

There is such a wealth of knowledge here on CountryByNet that I am sure there are other possibilities that I have not explored.

Does anyone have any other ideas on what to do with this wonderful hillside property?

Thanks in advance....

[Pat]

What is:

1. the fertility/soil type
2. the altitude
3. the degree of slope
3. your interests

Lots of avacado groves have been good investments but do you have water available, wells or prospects for good wells?.

Are the trees truly trash and unsalvageable? Could you thin the crop, prune some and sell them in a year or two?

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Yfoiler]

Pat,
Thanks for getting back to me and thanks for the ideas. Here is some additional info...
The soil is clay. (slippery as ice when it rains)
The altitude is around 2,000 ft.
The slope is from a few degrees at the bottom, to 23+ degrees at the top.
As far as my interests go, I really don't want to try and be commercial any longer. I'm thinking wine making for fun would be cool, and then if I like it and the work doesn't kill me, maybe I could expand the operation a bit...I'm not sure. I have a friend that has 40 acres of cabernet who tells me I'm crazy for even thinking about grapes. He's probably correct.
I've attached a picture of the place looking from the downhill corner of the property to the house at the top. The Xmas trees are around the hill to the right...

Thanks,

Marty

[Adron]

Just a random thought but from the description they would seem to be fairly large. Could you maybe send a flyer to some of the large landscapers. Perhaps they would want them as semi-mature trees for a large landscaping project. They would also have the machinery to move them.....??

[Pat]

Hey, lets here it for Adron, that is a great idea!

As to usage of the property. If you don't want to have the hassle of going commercial and want to avoid high costs with no payback then developing it as an avacado grove is out. I agree with your friend, about the effort in grapes. Wine making can be fun but it tends to suck you in like being pulled into a black hole. YOu can do it very casually as a sometimes hobby pastime but there is always more equipment and time conlsuming activities.

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]