It’s a little less green in more ways than one at local Christmas tree farms after the summer’s drought knocked out much of their new stock.

“It’s hard to see, but the drought is still hitting the trees hard,” said Carl Young, who runs the Carl and Dorothy Young’s Tree Farm at Young’s Jersey Dairy in Mad River Twp.

Of the 26,000 evergreens that sprawl across the farm, Young said he lost about 260 seedlings he planted this season. He’s already removed the brown ones to make sure what visitors see is fresh and green. The loss won’t have an immediate impact on this year’s sales, but in eight years when the trees would have matured, he’ll feel the pinch.

“We have to sell 10 percent of these trees every year. I have to bring in trees to meet the demand,” Young said.

And the drought isn’t over yet. This November only brought about 3/4-inch of rain— about two-and-a-half inches below average and more than two inches below last year’s totals, said Storm Center 7 Meteorologist McCall Vrydaghs.

Autumn is a vital time for evergreens, as rains help establish a good root system. The trees won’t be able to draw in water once the ground freezes, Young said, so farms could lose more stock still.

As a member of the Ohio Christmas Tree Association, Young said he knows some growers have been harder hit.

“The drought has been a really severe problem,” he said. “Some farmers lost every seedling they planted.”

Of the 400 seedlings Glenn Manns planted at the Dealker’s Farm in Butler Twp. in Montgomery County, half were wiped out when they didn’t get enough water. He lost about 200 more trees, which were more mature, after the water table dropped too low for his well to handle running more than one sprinkler.

“A lot of those trees were in the ground five or six years and were within a year or two of being ready to sell,” Manns said. “You know, (I make) $32 a tree, so times that by 600, that’s quite a bit of money.”

He wants to sell at least 300 trees this year to make up for the losses so he can afford to plant more in the spring. With more big box stores selling and tree stalls cropping up every day, Manns said competition is stiff.

“Everybody’s selling cheap trees, and if they want little farms like this to survive, then they have to come patronize us,” he said.