Christmas tree growers in Atlantic Canada are monitoring the spread of a disease and looking for ways to combat it.

Scott Cory, who’s been studying Fraser firs for nearly a decade, in a fir forest on Roan Mountain, in Tennessee. (Irina Zhorov/For WHYY) After leaving the forest, Cory walked farther up the road until ...

Ninety percent of mature Fraser fir trees in the Great Smoky Mountains alone have been killed in the last 50 years, according to the Missouri Botanical Garden. And when Fraser firs die, that has a ...

He and his team are reading the DNA of Fraser firs to find out how best to protect them, and beating the root rot is job No.1. It's a challenge because once the rot hits, it's almost impossible to ...

White House staff picked out a 25-year-old Fraser fir that stands 20 feet tall and weighs approximately 400-500 pounds. As part of the harvesting process, the tree was cut and lifted by a crane.

Therefore, Fraser fir are only found naturally at high elevations – above 5,000 feet – along the Appalachian mountains. There are around six to nine little pockets of Fraser fir in these areas.

Fraser fir prefers a rich, moist, slightly acidic soil that is well drained. It does best in loamy soils; heavy clays drain too slowly and will cause Fraser fir to suffer and decline.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: North Carolina is a leading producer of Christmas trees, and the Cadillac of trees is their native Fraser fir. It is, though, an evergreen under siege. Paul Garber from member ...

Missouri Botanical Garden Horticulturist Travis Hall climbs a Fraser fir to collect cones in 2019. An invasive sapsucking insect is wreaking havoc on the Fraser fir, one of the most popular Christmas ...

He and his team are reading the DNA of Fraser firs to find out how best to protect them, and beating the root rot is job No.1. It's a challenge because once the rot hits, it's almost impossible to ...