In Focus: Weyerhaeuser’s Rochester Nursery ships up to 6 million seedlings to Christmas tree growers every year

Millions of future Christmas trees get their start at Weyerhaeuser’s Forest Regeneration Center in Rochester. Of the 25 to 30 million seedlings grown there annually, most go to support future regeneration efforts on Weyerhaeuser’s timberlands.

At Rochester, the full-cycle, seed-to-seedling operation begins with a new seed orchard establishment. This is where the next generation of seed inventory is grown, though it may be a decade or more before these trees produce their first cone crop.

A straight and rapidly growing leader — the main vertical stem at the top of the tree — is a good indicator of tree health and one of several aspects workers look for when caring for newly established orchards.

Most trees are ready to begin producing cone crops at around 10 to 12 years old. These trees in the mature seed orchard at Rochester are 15 to 25 years old and have been selected to express genetic traits and characteristics that make them — and their seeds — ideally suited for different growing environments.

Once the seed orchard is in production, trees are stimulated to start a reproductive cycle. Two shallow cuts made halfway around the trunk on opposite sides of the tree slow the flow of nutrients up the stem and signal to the tree to put on reproductive buds. Trees are stimulated the year prior to cone harvest (e.g., trees stimulated in spring 2025 will produce cones for harvest in fall 2026).

Cones are harvested from the mature seed orchard every August and September by workers on lifts. The best time to pick is when the cones are still light green and the bracts — the paper-like “tails” that hang over the cones’ scales and protect the seeds — are just beginning to turn brown. Each cone produces about 28 to 36 seeds. Cones are collected in bushel bags and brought to a cone shed. They are shelved for two to four weeks, allowing the cones to continue maturing and drying before processing for seed.

Cones brought in for processing are dried and tumbled in the kiln room to separate large debris from the seeds. The seeds and remaining small debris are collected in barrels and brought to the seed processing room. The contents are passed over a series of sifting screens (pictured) to filter out any remaining debris — with the goal of yielding clean seed.

Once cleaned, seeds are placed in an air-column separator (pictured) that sorts them by weight. Heavy seeds are more likely to have a viable embryo inside, while light seeds are more likely to be empty. Each weight is sampled and X-rayed to confirm the presence of embryos and to ensure the collection of a high-germination seed lot.

To prepare for sowing, seeds go through a stratification process to “wake” them from their dormant state. They are then delivered to the nurseries. Sowing begins in January and February at the greenhouse production facility. More than two dozen different species of trees are grown at Rochester, including many popular Christmas tree varieties such as Douglas-fir, Fraser fir, noble fir and Nordmann fir. Most of these seedlings will spend a year at Rochester before being shipped to customers.

Harvest production begins every December with the shipment of seedlings to customers. Growing trays, like the ones pictured, are lifted from the greenhouse and transported to the pack room. The varietal crops utilize growing trays that hold anywhere from 45 to 240 seedlings.

In the pack room, seedlings are extracted from their trays by machine and fed onto a conveyor belt for grading.

On the grading belt, workers evaluate each seedling to ensure it meets customer specifications for key attributes such as height, stem diameter and more.

After being graded, seedlings are bundled and boxed, then placed on a pallet and moved to a remote storage cooler to await customer delivery. Once planted, seedlings take anywhere from seven to 10 years to reach average Christmas tree size.

Posted Friday, December 12, 2025 11:32 am

Photos and captions courtesy of Weyerhaeuser Senior Communications Manager Matt Peterson

Weyerhaeuser’s Rochester Nursery ships about five to six million seedlings to Christmas tree growers across the U.S. and Canada every year, Weyerhaeuser Senior Communications Manager Matt Peterson recently told The Chronicle.

“And with the next couple weeks being a busy time for tree farms throughout the region, I thought the attached photos and captions might be of interest to you and your readers,” Peterson wrote late last month. “The pictures show the full cycle of operations at the Rochester facility — from growing and harvesting seeds to planting and packing the seedlings.”

Peterson provided the photos and captions included here.

In Focus: Weyerhaeuser’s Rochester Nursery ships up to 6 million seedlings to Christmas tree growers every year

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