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A little green costs extra green

Trucking in trees costs more this year because of high fuel costs, resulting in higher tree prices.

O Christmas tree, thy leaves are so unchanging. But thy price is going up.

People who love to set a Christmas tree beside the window and enjoy its familiar pine scent will have to pay a few more bucks this year, several merchants said. It's one more thing to blame on high fuel prices.

"We're probably $3 to $5 more than last year," said Dale Wanta, who is selling about 2,000 trees from Wisconsin at roadside locations in Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Tampa and St. Petersburg. "The worst part is, the freight costs go up and how do you keep eating all that?"

George Bessler, scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 321 in Seminole, said the scouts have been forced to charge about $5 more per tree this year to make up for higher fuel costs to transport 225 trees from North Carolina. Trees range from $35 to $70.

At Ergle Family Christmas Tree Farm in eastern Hernando County, north of Dade City, prices for locally grown trees have stayed the same. But the farm increased prices a dollar or two on trees trucked from northern states such as Michigan.

"They went up a little bit, but not too much," said owner Tony Harris.

Despite the uptick, trees seem to be selling.

Michelle Devers, 33, a nurse, said even though she is spending $240 more per month commuting to her nursing job and driving to her son's school, she decided to buy a real tree this time. She spent the past three Christmases using an artificial tree and "sitting there looking at the sticks going, "Oh my gosh, what did I do?"'

So she paid $71.69 for a tree this week at a tent in a parking lot on U.S. 19 in Palm Harbor.

"Is it worth it?" she asked.

"Yes it's worth it," said her son Alex, 10, a fifth-grader.

Devers smiled. "Christmas is once a year."

Prices for regular unleaded gasoline have soared this year, and recently dropped back to the only mildly excruciating $2-per-gallon range. But trucks run on diesel, which has not fallen as quickly.

It's not just the cost of transporting trees. Wanta, speaking from a lot near U.S. 19 and Tampa Road in Palm Harbor, is the manager of Steigerwaldt Tree Farms. His staff has been working for months driving to more than 200 acres of farms around Tomahawk, Wis., to fertilize, trim and otherwise manage the trees. The fuel costs added an extra $1,500 per month to that routine, Wanta said.

"It's something I don't want to complain about, but that's the basic reason," Wanta said. His trees range from about $40 for the smallest to as much as $280 for a towering 15-footer.

Jeremy Gallio, whose family has been selling trees in a lot outside of St. Patrick's Church on S Manhattan Avenue in Tampa for 13 years, said he had anticipated a $15 to $20 increase for trees brought in from Michigan, Oregon and North Carolina. But after fuel costs came back down recently, he said the family only had to raise prices $5 to $10 per tree.

At St. John Greek Orthodox Day School on Swann Avenue near Howard Avenue in South Tampa, parents selling trees as a school fundraiser have not increased prices. The 5- to 7-foot trees from North Carolina average $46.

"We're just trying to offer a good tree at a fair price," said headmaster Jim Larkin. "We're a Christian school. We're not trying to gouge anyone. We wouldn't do it any other way."

Some customers say the cost of a tree is easier to justify when they know they are buying from a nonprofit organization.

"It's for the Boy Scouts," said Roger Smith, after buying a tree with his wife from Troop 321.

--Times staff writer Asjylyn Loder contributed to this report.