Posted by Cathy Van Lopik on December 15, 2006

Q: I read somewhere that on "Christmas Tree" farms, in order to get the pine trees to produce a lot of cones, they cut a deep gash in the trunk of the tree, about 3/4 of an inch deep. Is this true, and if so why does this make the tree produce a lot of cones?

State: Michigan

A: I've never heard of this before but I did some searching to try and find out whether it is true or not. Couldn't find any reference to this procedure but that doesn't mean it is untrue.

To begin with, I don't know why they'd want their trees to have cones on them in the first place. I've never bought or seen a Christmas tree that had cones! Furthermore, trees used for Christmas are young and usually haven't even begun producing cones anyway.

I do know that apple trees can be stressed (they used to whip the trunk with a chain) and this would stimulate a tree to produce more abundant fruit. Whether this idea would work for conifers, I'm not sure but it doesn't make much sense to me. Cone production in pines and spruce varies from year to year and results from multiple complex factors that can produce a bumper crop, a normal crop, or very poor crop.

To answer your question then, I'd say this is probably not true but I can't say for sure. Thanks for asking.

John Wiessinger ( December 16, 2006)