The Christmas-tree grower
-
swissinfo.ch -
"People want Nordmann firs, but they don't grow in Swiss forests." Luder takes stock of his trees. swissinfo.ch -
Luder cuts ten per cent of his 60,000 trees for the Christmas market. swissinfo.ch -
His Christmas trees spend the first three years of their lives in a nursery. A spruce requires five to six years to reach maturity, and a Nordmann fir five to ten years. swissinfo.ch -
Luder needs lots of help during the cold days of December to get his trees ready for market. swissinfo.ch -
Cutting the trunk. swissinfo.ch -
Colour coding is used to indicate the size. swissinfo.ch -
Each tree is wrapped in a net before it is transported. swissinfo.ch -
Luder employs about 12 people to deal with the Christmas rush. swissinfo.ch -
After the trees have been shipped, it is time to clean up. swissinfo.ch -
The Luder family delivers its trees to retailers or directly to private customers. Half of the family's income is derived from the Christmas tree business. swissinfo.ch -
Traditionally, the Swiss wait until Christmas Eve before putting up their tree, whether a Norway or Blue spruce, Silver or Nordmann fir. swissinfo.ch
Farmer Hans-Peter Luder from the village of Bütikofen in canton Bern got into the Christmas-tree business 20 years ago. At first local residents didn't take him seriously, but he persevered with his vision. (Pictures and text: Christoph Balsiger, swissinfo.ch)
This content was published on December 16, 2005 - 16:01
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.