Even Christmas trees were affected by this year's drought | News

HERRIN, IL (KFVS)- We all suffered through the long hot summer. Farmers lost crops and many lost their gardens.

However, the effects of the drought also took a toll on a Christmas tree farm in southern Illinois.

The Wiswell Christmas Tree Farm has become a holiday tradition for thousands of families who want to pick out their own live tree.

In order to have a selection of trees like these, the farm has to plant new ones every year.

This year the little trees didn't do well during the drought. The farm lost thousands of them.

"When we planted this year, we lost last year's trees, and this year's trees a majority of those," said Stacy Holloway with Wiswell Christmas Trees. "Our bigger trees that we have had for several years didn't do too bad."

The farm was able to save many of the older trees during the drought by not trimming them back as far as they would in a normal year.

The damage from this year's drought will affect the farm's selection of trees several years from now.

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