Hundreds of tree growers recently gathered at Crystal Spring Tree Farm in Lehighton for the Pennsylvania Christmas Tree Growers Association's summer meeting.

The full-day annual meeting is a chance for growers to learn about new growing techniques and products, popular tools of the trade, and trends in the industry. Attendants could also earn points needed to maintain their pesticide license.Host Chris Botek, the owner of Crystal Spring Tree Farm, estimated that there were roughly 250 farmers and vendors attending."It's a day to get out and learn new techniques, and to share techniques with other growers," Botek said. "It's just unbelievable, the response we got to this year's meeting."The event included educational seminars on topics such as new fertilizer techniques, calibrating a pesticide sprayer, making the most of greenery throughout the farm (greenery can be an important form of income for many farmers), and worker safety. There was something for nearly everyone, Botek said, from farmers looking to expand and diversify their business to those looking to perfect their techniques and learn from others' experiences.Despite the near-record heat wave that began last weekend, attendants seemed ready to learn and focus, Botek said."It's nice to see everyone here," he said. "We're all farmers, so we're all used to working in this heat."So far this year, local tree farmers have considered themselves lucky. They dodged any damaging frost this spring, and have had enough heavy, steady rains to protect from the summer's intense heat."The first hurdle that we have to get over each year is frost, just like any other crop," Botek said. "Farmers don't plant corn until May, but we don't have that luxury. The trees are out in the field for years and years. Some of the newer, tender growth will freeze if it gets cold enough. This season was a little dicey. We got close, but there was no damage."The Pennsylvania Christmas Tree Growers Association hosts two meetings each year, in the summer and winter. While the winter meeting is typically held at a convention center near Harrisburg, summer meetings are hosted by member farms."My father (Francis Botek) hosted this meeting in 1994. It takes a lot of volunteers to run the organization and these meetings," said Botek, who is also secretary of the association. "I thought it was my turn to host, so I volunteered."The meeting also included a trade show with more than 20 vendors, some traveling from as far as the West Coast. These vendors showcased the tools needed to maintain or sell Christmas trees or support a family business, such as chain saws, tree stands and watering kits, along with the supplies and trimmings used to add a touch of holiday cheer - including several trees sprayed blue, pink and white to demonstrate the popular trend of painted trees."It's a chance for vendors to not just have a catalog, but to get out and see the people they're selling to and to display their products," he said.Botek said that with more than 200 people attending the meeting, this year's summer meeting easily doubled the average meeting size. He credited several things, including the farm's reputation as having a three-time national Grand Champion tree, earning the right to place a tree in the White House's Blue Room.Another draw to the farm could have been Botek's focus on diversification, which has become an important feature on many successful farms. While the Christmas tree industry has remained fairly steady, expenses and inflation have made it difficult to keep the cost of trees reasonable for families.Instead of raising costs dramatically, farmers have turned to alternative forms of income - such as selling wreaths made with leftover branches from cut trees, and selling evergreens to landscaping companies throughout the spring and summer."Years ago, back when my father started this business in 1964, all my dad did was wholesale cut trees. We sold a few of them at our grocery store in Lansford, but for the most part he was able to function in business with just wholesale cut trees. Today, that would be very difficult," Botek said.A farm that relies solely on a few species of wholesale trees only receives income at one time of the year - and also runs the risk of having a poor crop if the weather doesn't cooperate.Crystal Spring continues to sell wholesales trees, but has grown to include landscaping and choose-and-cut trees. This year, the farm will also sell pumpkins on the farm starting the last weekend in September."I'm trying to diversify. For the first time ever, I'm opening up a pumpkin patch. I've been working a crop of pumpkins into my rotation of Christmas trees just to try to maximize capital at different times of the year," Botek said. "I'm trying to maximize the land that I have at hand. Instead of letting the land lay fallow for a year, I can put in the crop of pumpkins."He said the pumpkins' growing season, which starts in spring and ends with harvesting in fall, is very different from the typical tree's life cycle. It takes 8-10 years to grow an average-sized Christmas tree, and roughly two decades to grow a tree large enough for the White House or other large, publicly displayed trees."For me, it's a pretty different type of farming, where you're harvesting your product in the first year. You're planting it in late spring, and you're harvesting it in October. It's a different situation, and I enjoy it," he said.During the daylong meeting, Botek also offered hay wagon tours of the farm, which has grown to more than 200 acres. The tour included its seedling fields and pumpkin patch, as well as the farm's indoor loading area and wreath-making building.One lecture offered during the day discussed the benefits of rotating evergreen trees with pumpkins.Attendants took a break from seminars to attend the association's summer business meeting, which was held over lunch. The meal was catered by the Whitehouse Diner.