CONTRIBUTED BY ACES
AUBURN — The holiday season means a time for not only giving gifts but giving back to our communities with a joyful spirit. Jeremy Pickens, assistant extension professor at Auburn University, spread holiday cheer by donating 200 Christmas trees through the Trees for Troops program.
As part of the Christmas Spirit Foundation, Trees for Troops reaches out to donors all over the U.S. for Christmas trees to be provided to military families that live on base. In 2024 alone, over 16,000 trees were donated to 93 military bases across the nation.
But the Christmas tree donation, rooted in research, blossomed into tokens of holiday happiness for military families on base.
“A Christmas tree can make almost anywhere feel like home, even when you are stationed far from your home,” Pickens said. “The idea of contributing to that makes all of us down here at the outlying units feel awesome.”
Pickens and the team at the Gulf Coast Research and Extension Center (GCREC) conducted a three-year Specialty Crop Block grant for tree production. Funded through the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries (ADAI), the trees were planted to determine tree growth rates to see if they could speed up production.
Pickens is part of the Department of Horticulture, where he works closely with growers and producers. While his primary research focuses on ornamental production, he has shifted a lot of that passion into trimming more than just data — now he trims Christmas trees.
“I started working with Christmas tree growers about 7 years ago. I am the nursery and greenhouse specialist, and Christmas tree production is very similar to field nurseries,” said Pickens. “One of my first farm visits, a grower handed me some trimmers and put me to work. I fell in love with it.”
Several years ago, Pickens surveyed Christmas tree growers in Alabama to determine if there was room for improvement in production. When he saw there were opportunities, he and the team analyzed management practices they could test to provide to growers. Being a secondary job for many of our growers, Pickens plans to continue the tree production research to find practices that save our growers time and money.
“We surveyed growers a while back and learned that the time it took to grow a 7-8 ft tree varied from farm to farm and ranged from 2 to 5 years,” Pickens said. “We also learned that fertilizer practices were all over the place. The growers that grew trees faster fertilized more often. We set a goal to help growers hit a marketable tree in 3 years.”
As the primary Christmas tree of the southern region, the Leyland Cypress became the chosen species for the research project. As a fast-growing conifer, it is a top choice for choose-and-cut Christmas tree farm operations.
In partnership with ADAI, Pickens and the GCREC team have applied grant funding to study both fertilizer practices and weed management approaches. Passionate about helping producers, ADAI Commissioner Rick Pate supports projects that improve on‑farm practices.
With the majority of the project going on at the GCREC unit, the team also has some trees at the Ornamental Horticulture Research Center in Mobile. Having two locations allows the team to see just how much of a role soil types play in the overall production. Pickens says seeing the variations in soil types at each location has shown them that they have to be specific with their recommendations.
“At GCREC, we had five nitrogen rates we tested using standard ag grade fertilizer. At the station in Mobile, we fertigated Christmas trees with three different rates,” Pickens said. “We also learned that fertigation allowed us to apply less fertilizer in a more efficient manner.”
With growers in mind, Pickens and the AAES team continue advancing tree research projects and share their findings through Alabama Extension outreach.
With the grant winding down, Pickens questioned how to put all those harvest‑ready Christmas trees to use.
“Last year, I started wondering what the heck I was going to do with 200 Christmas trees,” Pickens said. “I didn’t want to sell them because I didn’t want to take any business away from our local farms.
“At our annual meeting, Rick Dungey — who heads up Trees for Troops — presented on the program. Halfway through his second slide, I thought ‘Bingo — that is where our trees are going to go.’”
Jarrod Jones, south regional director of AAES, said he was excited to find such worthy use of the trees.
“What a unique opportunity for us to donate our Christmas trees to some of our nation’s troops and spread the Christmas spirit,” Jones said.
With a plan in motion, Fish River Trees — a Christmas tree farm in Fairhope — also volunteered to contribute 50 trees to the program. By joining in, their generosity expanded the effort to provide even more military families with an Alabama tree for Christmas.
In early December, 250 Christmas trees were transported from the GCREC to military families at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina.
From advancing evergreen research at the Alabama Experiment Station to delivering seasonal goodwill, this project reflects lasting service. With AAES and Alabama Extension together, holiday fellowship reached our military families — one Christmas tree at a time.
