Some Districts have a second round of tree seedling sales, using containerized stock, for the fall planting season. Orders are prepared by District employees and volunteers, then distributed from one or two locations within a county, on a spring date that is printed in the catalogues and on the District websites. Most nurseries are geared-up for larger economies of scale. However, the advantage of buying through a Conservation District is that it’s nearby, the dollars support local conservation efforts and trees can be bought in smaller quantities. The Michigan DNR maintains a list of seedling nurseries. Of course, forest owners can buy directly from a tree nursery, which may be a good idea when thousands of seedlings are needed for reforestation. If your county doesn’t have such a seedling program, then maybe the next county does. Tree seedling sales are an important fundraiser for many Districts. They have elected boards and are usually grant-driven. Most counties are served by a Conservation District ( ), which is an organization that tries to serve local conservation needs. Ordering sooner, rather than later, is a good idea if you have a site ready for spring planting. The stock is sold on a first-come, first-served basis. Nevertheless, that’s when most of Michigan’s Conservation Districts distribute and post their catalogues. Many suppliers are transparent with their pricing and order requirements with detailed price lists available on their websites.Buying tree seedlings may not be on the top of the “to-do” list during the middle of winter. Some suppliers also have minimum order quantity or minimum dollar amounts, so if you’re only looking for a few or a few dozen trees, you selection of suppliers will be even more limited. 2-2 fir trees might be $5-$6 each if purchasing less than 50 trees but the price could go down closer to $2 per tree if purchasing over 500. I’ve seen some 2-0 seedlings as little as $0.30 when purchased in quantity. The cost of Christmas tree seedlings will vary based on age/size, species, and quantity. How Much Do Christmas Tree Seedlings Cost? We might be warming up considerably in the Spring in Virginia while northern states are still frozen solid and nurseries cannot get their trees out of the ground to ship. I’ve personally ordered from nurseries in MI or PA and had Spring orders delayed due to weather. Weather and timing is another consideration. Obviously, the farther from your location, the most costly shipping will be. Depending on the size of your order, shipping can add significant cost to your order. The first consideration is whether you’ll be picking up your order or having the trees shipped to you. The location of your supplier can introduce several additional variables for your consideration. The ones that do ship in the fall will take orders the previous winter or early Spring of the same year. If you’re planning on planting in the Fall, first know that not all nurseries will ship seedlings in the Fall. You’ll just have to call around ask for details. A few nurseries are taking orders as much as 2 years in advance. Most farms are ordering trees in the summer for next Spring’s planting.
It can be difficult to compare the size and cost of traditionally grown transplants to greenhouse or containerized plants since there is no consistent scale.
Many nurseries will transplant seedlings after 2 or 3 years to give the seedlings more space to grow lateral branches. If you’re buying small trees directly from these seed beds, you’re buying a seedling. When Christmas trees are grown from seed, they’re generally started in seed beds where the trees stay for 2 to 3 years. When you talk to Christmas tree farmers, you’ll find they all seem to use these terms interchangeably, and most will just call them all seedlings, but from what I’ve gathered, there actually is a difference when talking to a supplier.