Get your Christmas tree early. And bring extra cash.

Christmas tree growers and sellers are advising consumers to get their Christmas tree early this year and to not be surprised if the cost is higher than normal.

North Carolina’s official Christmas tree, the Fraser fir, is in limited supply, the director of the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association told the Associated Press.

North Carolina is the second-largest grower and exporter of Christmas trees. The state produces more than 20 percent of the country’s supply.

The recession affected tree farmers nationwide when there was less demand for Christmas trees. As a consequence, farmers did not plant as many trees in 2008, The Charlotte Observer reported.

Almost a decade later, those trees are now on the market, but there are fewer of them available at a time when more people are trying to buy trees, the report said.

And consumers can expect prices for those trees to be higher than in previous years, the Associated Press reported.

“The tree shortage is real, that’s for sure,” Luke Gross, who sells Christmas trees at the Raleigh Farmer’s Market, told The News & Observer. “We’re just catching up to that now.”

This story was originally published November 28, 2017 at 11:31 AM with the headline "Get your Christmas tree early. And bring extra cash.."