For many families the smell of a pine tree is the scent of Christmas.
And there is something magical about a perfectly trimmed tree, decorated with tinsel, baubles and fairy lights.
Langkoop Xmas Trees owners Chris and Vicki Schmidt are keeping this tradition alive from their farm on the SA-Vic border, between Naracoorte and Edenhope.
From late November a steady stream of visitors select from about 300 trees, ranging from 1.2 metres to 2.1m tall.
Six years ago, the Schmidts planted their first Pinus Radiata at the front of their property and began selling them three years ago. Demand continues to grow each year with about 400 more planted every 18 months.
“All our original customers keep coming back and they are bringing back friends and their friends are bringing back friends,” he said.
Mr Schmidt had fond childhood memories while living in the Adelaide Hills of chopping down a live tree and wanted to give others the same joy.
“Where we used to go now is under houses and if you go out into the forest now you end up with a stick with a few limbs on it.”
He says the sandy soil at Langkoop was only good “for trees and pigs”.
There are not two trees the same – it is like a piece of art.
- CHRIS SCHMIDT
Mr Schmidt admits he had limited experience aside from planting a few pine plantations with Whiteheads Timber at Edenhope, Vic.
But the rows and rows of plump, manicured trees are a telltale sign the Schmidts have worked out the best time to hard prune and trim the trees.
“You have to be careful cutting them back too much or they brown off,” he said.
“It (Christmas trees) is like growing grass – they like a bit of super and they like water.”
When asked what the key to a long-lasting tree was, he said they needed to be in a shallow container of rainwater, topped up regularly, rather than sitting in a bucket.
“If you look after them and keep the water up to them they will keep growing – one of our customers at the end of January had new green shoots on it,” he said.
Langkoop Xmas Trees will deliver through the South East and western Vic, but Mr Schmidt encouraged families to come themselves to find the perfect tree.
“There are not two trees the same. It is like a piece of art – they are all different,” he said. “I get great pleasure watching the kids run around picking out a tree – it is like they are in a lolly shop.
“And the look on the parents’ faces – they love it too.”
He says it is still a “side” business, also running about 400 ewes and a few pigs on their 348-hectare farm.
“If I run out of a job here and I have a half hour or couple of hours I will go down with the loppers and have a trim up here and there,” he said.
