Harvesting Mistletoe and Selling Mistletoe Crafts

By Martha Schafer
Published on November 1, 1974
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Here are a couple trees with significant infestations.
Here are a couple trees with significant infestations.
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You'll have to use other methods for clumps on branches too narrow to support someone's weight.
You'll have to use other methods for clumps on branches too narrow to support someone's weight.
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Before selling mistletoe crafts you have locate and collect a supply. The parasitic plant prefers old oaks.
Before selling mistletoe crafts you have locate and collect a supply. The parasitic plant prefers old oaks.
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For accessible clumps, you could send up someone—a teenager perhaps—who is good at climbing trees.
For accessible clumps, you could send up someone—a teenager perhaps—who is good at climbing trees.
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A useful sprig. 
A useful sprig. 
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A shotgun is another method, but can damage the plant.
A shotgun is another method, but can damage the plant.
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Knocking it down with a long stick is one possibility
Knocking it down with a long stick is one possibility

Among all the alternative business ideas I’ve seen in
MOTHER EARTH NEWS, no one has mentioned selling mistletoe crafts. Perhaps
that’s because the plant–a traditional holiday
decoration–is plentiful only in a limited region.
(“New Jersey, e. Pennsylvania, W. Virginia, s. Ohio, s.
Illinois, and s.e. Kansas to Florida and e. Texas,”

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