00:00Good old Pinus radiata shines but once a year.
00:07Slap a star on top and it's transformed from conifer to Christmas icon.
00:12But choosing the tree is a tricky business.
00:16Just like choosing what to put on it.
00:18Waity Pie, would you like to choose one of these for your tree?
00:23Oh my goodness, can you choose one for Nana?
00:25A good Christmas tree.
00:26It's nicely shaped.
00:28The triangle shape, nice and tall, a little bit larger than me.
00:32And then we always like it when there's like no gaps or anything.
00:36But getting the trees in shape and ready for sale takes years.
00:40After two and a half years we start pruning them twice a year with a big slashing knife.
00:45It's a cross between a samurai sword and a machete and we cut the tips off the trees
00:50to thicken them up.
00:51This is six and a half years old, this plantation here.
00:54And as with other farming, the trees are at the mercy of the weather and the economy.
01:00Ziggy Comanek says last year the growing conditions were terrible and he sold out.
01:06This year the weather was great but sales are down.
01:09This year has been slow.
01:11I think people are really feeling the pinch and we're about 1,000-1,500 trees less than
01:16last year at this point.
01:18An Australian Christmas might not have the snow or the warming Yulog fire like the Northern
01:24Hemisphere but at least we've got the right sort of trees so that Father Christmas can
01:30make no mistake, he's in the right place for that special delivery.
01:35You know what you want for Christmas?
01:37Barbie Dreamhouse.
01:39Barbie Dreamhouse.
01:41Meanwhile at the Christmas tree farm, the work goes on.
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