Treetime Christmas Creations sells artificial trees that “are made custom to us,” allowing the business to incorporate customer feedback into its products, owner Laurie Kane said.

But Treetime, which sells online and from a showroom in Lake Barrington, has also had to incorporate higher costs and tariffs into its bottom line.

Kane said China “makes some of the best” artificial Christmas trees. But this year, when the trees that were ordered in January came into port, the store paid 30% tariffs on them.

Kane said a lot of people cut their order because of the tariffs, and her store ordered 30% fewer trees because of them.

Treetime has noticed the impact of tariffs much more than inflation, Kane said. The store has accepted some of the price increase and hasn’t passed it all on to customers.

Yet despite that, “we’ve still seen strong demand for trees,” Kane said.

Kane is among purveyors of artificial Christmas trees who say tariffs are having an impact on their costs this year. Conversely, farms that sell fresh trees and aren’t facing the same tariffs are reporting strong early sales.

Kane said people want to decorate earlier and people often want something easier to put up and enjoy longer. Many customers want to put their tree up for Thanksgiving and keep it up through the new year.

People who want to bundle up and cut down their own trees this holiday season have a lot of options.

John Minalt, of Conifera Tree Farm near Harvard, said he hasn’t raised prices since COVID-19. But labor costs have gone up, and he’s anticipating prices will have to follow next year.

Minalt’s farm opened for the season Nov. 23, and he said there was about a 25 to 30% increase in demand. He said that was a “great sign for us.”

Conifera is anticipated to be open until mid-December, Minalt said. Supply of trees is “more than adequate” and he hasn’t really been hit by tariffs.

Ben’s Christmas Tree Farm, also near Harvard, opened for the season Friday.

About 10 years ago, the farm had really nice trees, owner Chris Czarnowski said. Then, “we got too popular” and had to regroup and scale down, he said.

It’s a “long supply pipeline” for the Fraser firs in particular, which is the kind of tree most people want, Czarnowski said. A tree about 7 to 8 feet tall can take about 10 to 12 years to grow. It’s the third year prices have stayed the same, and Czarnowski said he was not anticipating raising prices next year.

Czarnowski said he was excited to have nice trees available again. The farm opened after Thanskgiving will be open the weekends of Dec. 6 and 13.

Czarnowski said the farm grows all the trees it sells. His father, Ben, started the farm in the early 1980s on a 50-acre property, and Czarnowski later bought another 50 adjacent acres. Christmas trees are the only things they grow, without the use of herbicides or pesticides, a practice Czarnowski said his father began.

He said you can plant several thousand trees per acre, but for every three trees you plant, one is harvested. Some aren’t good for Christmas trees, so they are converted to wreaths, Czarnowski said.

The farm near Harvard also has many free amenities for families to enjoy and make memories as they get their tree, including farm animals, Santa and a nature trail. But, “the trees are the star of the show,” Czarnowski said.

At Timber Lane Christmas Tree Farm near Fulton in Whiteside County, Bill Holesinger was getting ready for the post-Thanksgiving rush with cut-your-own sales starting Nov. 28.

Holesinger, who owns the farm with his dad, brother and sister-in-law, said prior to Thanksgiving that a lot of people expressed interest in cutting their own tree this year and was anticipating a rush as people got ahead of the winter storm that would dump up to a foot of snow on the region.

Timber Lane also offers a few small, potted live trees, as well as other items like wreaths and ornaments at the farm’s store.

Some of the farm’s precut trees came from Canada, but Holesinger said the farm didn’t really tariff costs with that. However, ornaments cost more this year and the farm did have tariffs for those, he said.

Inflation hasn’t been too bad, but Holesinger said the farm would see how it hits for the season. He said the marker of inflation would be how many people come and buy trees this season, but it’s hard to know ahead of time.

Prices are the same this year, but Holesinger acknowledged it will be “tighter.”

He said for big trees, up to 17 feet tall, people have money and are coming and buying them. For trees 6 to 9 feet, there were still a lot left.

The farm hasn’t struggled with shortages, but Holesinger said they’ve cleared 10 acres to plant trees. Timber Lane is “ramping up” tree production to stay open longer and cover the precuts, Holesinger said.

At Sinnissippi Farm & Forest near Oregon, Doug Conroy, who owns the farm with his brother John, similarly said he was expecting a pretty good turnout as the season kicked off.

About two-thirds of their trees are grown there, while the rest come from places like northern Michigan. Tariffs haven’t really affected the farm, Conroy said, but the farm’s costs have been going up each year. Prices at Sinnissippi for customers are the same as last year, he said.

Conroy said there aren’t many Christmas tree growers in Illinois, and prices reflect shortages. Not many farms have large firs, but Sinnissippi does, and Conroy said his farm was fortunate to have “quite a deep selection” of Fraser firs.

But as artificial trees have surged, a lot of farmers have gotten out of the Christmas tree business, Conroy said. There’s growing interest in going back to natural trees, with people enjoying smelling, touching cutting down, carrying out and prepping their tree to bring in their homes, Conroy said.

“It’s the experience of being outside” and in the country, Conroy said, adding many people often don’t get those kinds of opportunities.

“It’s about tradition,” getting bundled up, going in the country and seeing parents who visited the farm growing up passing along their traditions to their children, Conroy said.

Conroy said the holidays are an “exciting time for many people” and it brings joy to see people come and relive some of their memories at the farm. He said many grandparents bring their grandchildren to the farm as well.

Conroy and his brother bought the farm, which is on the banks of the Rock River, more than 15 years ago and have restored historical buildings. The name is a nod to the turn of the century, when that area was home to what Conroy said was the first and largest farm in Illinois. The farm backs up to a state forest that also was a tree farm, Conroy said, adding their farm is a smaller version of what the farm once was.

Over the border in Wisconsin, Holly Van Dreser of Country Side Trees near Walworth said people seem to be decorating earlier. The farm has kept prices the same as last year, and they don’t import trees.

People can get their trees from Country Side Trees every day until Christmas Eve. Van Dreser said supply can vary, though overall they have a “better supply this year.”