Instead of cheap goods

Red-white-red Christmas trees shine longer for the festive season

Last sightings and first new plantings. Regional ribbons on the trunk show the way to local origin.

(Bild: Presse&Foto FRANZ GLEISS)

Domestic growers are currently taking a last look at their Christmas tree plantations. But cheap goods from abroad are threatening to compete with the peace festival!

"It's always Christmas for us. After all, we have to take great care throughout the year to ensure that people enjoy the festive season. That's why we have mowed, regulated, cut and sawn so that the most famous of all trees can once again make its grand entrance this year," assures Josef Reithner, chairman of the blue and yellow Christmas tree and decorative twig producers.

He doesn't have far to go for a local inspection! Reithner comes from Austria's classic Christmas tree community of Maria Laach, high above the banks of the Danube in Lower Austria. There - as in all other growing areas in his homeland - growers are just about to start this year's season. The order of the day out there in the forest is to select the most beautiful trees for the festival and prepare them for sale.

Trees from native cultures also protect the climate.

(Bild: weihnachtsbaum.at)

Nordmann firs as a classic, threatened by cheap goods
The Nordmann firs (named after Alexander von Nordmann, who discovered this type of tree in the Caucasus during an expedition on behalf of the Russian Tsar) will soon be cut, netted and transported to the sales outlets. What makes hearts beat faster: The weather was particularly favorable for Christmas tree cultivation this year - the best needle quality.

Fir trees, the classics for sparkling candlelight, can withstand drought and storms particularly well. "Their taproots reach up to three meters deep into the ground and can spread horizontally up to 20 meters further. This allows them to access water and nutrients even in dry times," says Georg Schöppl, head of the Federal Forestry Office, who relies on these protégés in the state forests for precisely this reason.

Low transport mileage, sustainable cultivation and support for family farms are just three of the countless added values that such a tree offers

Landwirtschaftsminister Norbert Totschnig (ÖVP)

Bild: Peter Tomschi

If you want to be on the safe side when it comes to climate protection when choosing trees for the Peace Festival, look out for regional origin labels. "This not only ensures that the origin of the tree is guaranteed and controlled, but also sets an example for the environment," appeals Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig. A maxim that should also be taken to heart with Advent wreaths. Cheap goods from abroad, on the other hand, should be avoided as they usually start to deteriorate on Christmas Eve.

Eco-pioneers ensure naturally pure needles
The Nordmann fir trees of organic farmer Hans Reisenbauer from Thomasberg in a particularly untouched corner of the Bucklige Welt (Lower Austria) are left entirely to nature. "That's a good thing. Because it makes my protégés so strong and green that they keep their needles long after Christmas Eve," assures the grower, who does not use chemicals to control insect pests such as gall mites in his crops because the Advent greenery is so robust thanks to the wind and weather.

However, English Shropshire sheep are also increasingly being used as ecological weed killers in domestic crops. They keep grass short by grazing. All the "arms" of the Christmas trees - even the lowest rows of branches - are thus given even access to light and can develop beautifully and almost straight as a die, free from obstacles. If this care is lacking, the firs and spruces "rebel" - because they cannot do otherwise by nature, they grow irregularly or asymmetrically towards the light.

All natural (forest) with grower Marianne Pabinger from Salzburg...

(Bild: Neumayr Franz/www.neumayr.cc)

...and organic farmer Hans Reisenbauer from Lower Austria.

(Bild: Holl Reinhard/Reinhard HOLL)

On the ground, on the other hand, sparse rows of branches catch the eye. "They are our woolly allies," say the infinitely climate-friendly farming couple Christian and Marianne Pabinger from Mittergöming in Salzburg. The Carinthian silver fir trees of the Unterkofler family in Mooswald also tower into the sky as eco-lighthouses. For half a century, they have not used any pesticides at all.

Grandpa's grandchildren Raphael and Ralf and their dad Georg are now continuing this legacy. What is touching: Anyone can choose the natural tree they want in these cultures and cut it down themselves if they wish.