Panchimalco is the birthplace of natural Christmas tree cultivation

For 30 years, the Finca San Antonio, located in the old street of Panchimalco, has been cultivating natural Christmas trees. The best known in El Salvador are the artificial ones that come from other countries and that started arriving from the United States in the 80s and 90s.

Natural Christmas trees require special care and three years to see them grow up to three meters. This is what the Finca San Antonio does, of which María Trigueros was the pioneer; now his nephew José Trigueros has been running the company for ten years, when María could not continue to run it.

“She had a lot of friends, foreigners who were looking for natural trees in El Salvador, to use them at Christmas, and so she started to import the seed to grow it in nurseries, to grow them and then cultivate them, ”said José, of pioneer María Trigueros.

The harvest developed little by little and today between 600 and 800 trees are cultivated on the property each year. Where one is cut, another is planted, after a process of cleaning and preparing this soil for planting another tree of the Canadian cypress variety.

According to José, the Canadian cypress is the one that is best cultivated in El Salvador, due to the type of climate, but it must be in height and with a cool climate, as is the case where Finca San Antonio is located. .

Prices for natural Christmas trees range from $ 75 to $ 150, and their size ranges from a meter and a half to three meters or a little more. It’s a 36 month job to see a planted tree that can be displayed in a home’s living room, on a patio, or anywhere people want.

Customers start reserving the trees from October and they can remove them the first days of December, to place them wherever they want. “There are people who have been coming for years. They came with their parents and today they bring their children, they are already adults, or grandparents, who brought their children and today they come. with their grandchildren, ”José added. A variety of plants and flowers are also grown on site.

La Finca San Luis works with Floristeria Camelot and through their social networks, phone numbers or WhatsApp, customers can request information, book or buy. According to José, the orders leave at 7:00 a.m. from the farm to the homes of the people who acquired them, but there is also the possibility of bringing them to the plantation. Cypress trees are wrapped in a special mesh and in this way they are transferred to places, whether they are homes, businesses or businesses.

The tree should be placed in water and although it is cut, it continues to absorb water for a month or more. But there is also the option of the potted tree. It grows in this container and sells for three years, but after this time the pot starts to break and needs to be planted elsewhere, in a garden or in an outdoor field.

The size of a Canadian cypress is 10 meters. Last year, due to the covid-19 pandemic, the sale of natural Christmas trees fell by 50% as people did not want to leave their homes, but there were still those who came to buy their trees. .

Francisco Ramírez, 40, is one of those caring for Canadian cypress trees. He waters them, cleans them, compost them and places bamboo leaves on them to keep the tree trunks moist. When it is very hot in Salvadoran territory, the trees are given water every three days, but they are kept under observation because they cannot lose moisture. In the lower part of the land where the two tree plantations are located, there is a cultivation of bamboo poles and it is from there that they collect it and then place it on the trunks of small trees.

Being among the cypress trees of Finca San Antonio gives the impression of being in another latitude, in another country, in the middle of nature and a type of plantation that is not common in our country, since in some regions of Chalatenango, Ahuachapán, Morazán, Santiago de María and in other high places it is more common to see wood pines, some cultivated for its exploitation.