Two Christmas tree farms with decades of history in the Mahoning Valley are closing a bit early this year so they can keep providing trees for years to come.

Hill Farms announced that it will close for the year on Saturday, while Yenser’s Tree Farm will end its 2020 season on Sunday.

Both growers have reported having above average sales in 2020. Because it takes 10 years to grow a Christmas tree, they’ve decided to preserve some of their crop for next year and beyond.

“We made the decision to shut early simply because of inventory management,” said Jeff Hill of Hill Farms. “To make sure we have a consistent supply year to year.”

Carbon County growers aren’t the only ones seeing more customers, according to Doug Hundley, spokesman for the National Christmas Tree Growers Association. Demand is strong nationwide.

One possible explanation is that people are looking for a safe outdoor activity - the same reason that orchards and pumpkin patches also saw good seasons in 2020.

“People had a lot of cabin fever this year because of COVID. The idea of going out and spending a half a day out on a farm with the family, all of that seems to have raised the tide for all real tree sales,” Hundley said.

But the high demand for trees may also have been spurred more than a decade ago. Today’s mature trees were planted in the aftermath of the 2008 recession.

Hill said that at that time some growers planted less, while others stopped planting completely. Now, some customers from those farms are now looking for a new place to get a tree.

“The seeds were sown back then,” Hill said. “With the pandemic it’s a little more magnified.”

Most businesses would jump at the opportunity for a year of increased sales. But Christmas tree growers have to look further into the future, because it takes so long to grow their crop.

Each year farms save some smaller trees which could potentially be cut and sold so they maintain a selection of small and large trees for years to come.

“We’re not like so many other crops where you just plant more and you have it next year,” Hill said.

There are still plenty of cut trees available throughout the commonwealth. Pop-up retail lots and big box stores sell cut trees. Other choose-and-cut farms in the Mahoning Valley and around the county have not announced any plans to close for the season.

But traditionally, most families have already purchased their trees by mid-December.

“We believe that by this date, we’ve satisfied 90 percent of the demand for real trees,” Hundley said on Wednesday. “If you could travel around the country, many of the sellers should be down to their last trees.”

For those who haven’t gotten a tree, and are set on getting a tree from Hill Farms or Yenser’s, they have a few days left.

Hill Farms will remain open until 4:30 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Yenser’s will be open noon-5 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.