Tobacco Trust Fund Christmas Tree Seed Center
Our mission is to empower North Carolina Christmas tree growers with the industry’s most advanced, highquality seeds. By cultivating leadingedge orchards, we strive to elevate grower success, strengthen the legacy of North Carolina’s Christmas tree tradition, and enrich the holiday experience for families across the nation.
UMRS Orchard came from the 2000 Progeny Test Series conducted by Dr. John Frampton.
Selections were made from all 6 locations where Fraser Fir grows naturally, and the program had over 28,000 entries.
The 28,000 entries were placed into progeny tests across the high country. These progeny tests resulted in 305 clones being selected as premium Christmas tree material.
The 305 clones were placed into two different clone banks and research continued. The continued research led to the selection of the best 25 clones from the clone bank. These 25 clones were placed in the Upper Mountain Seed Orchard.
The Upper Mountain Seed orchard is the only orchard that has entries from all 6 locations where Fraser Fir grows naturally.
The UMRS Seed orchard is the only orchard that has been selected for needle retention.
The UMRS seed orchard is the only “certified” Fraser Fir seed orchard.
Seeds will be certified through NC Crop Improvement Association and will be Blue Tag Certified.
The UMRS seed orchard was established in 2018.
First seed harvest was in 2025.
Building was completed in 2026
There are 25 clones replicated roughly 45 times each for roughly 1100 trees
The orchard is 7.5 acres
Clones were arranged using ONA (optimum neighborhood algorithm).
The Tobacco Trust Fund Christmas Tree Seed Center and the equipment inside were paid for by the NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission.
The seed center sits in the exact location of a former Burley Tobacco drying barn.
Fraser Fir is known as the “Cadillac” of Christmas trees.
There are roughly 40,000 acres of Christmas trees in NC.
There are around 1300 Christmas tree growers in NC.
NC produces 4 to 6 million trees annually with Fraser Fir representing 99% of the species grown.
Links