Hi John: I imagine it is difficult to identify some of your seedlings at this stage. The Virginia Department of Forestry published "Native Trees of Virginia" (124 pages) this summer. This publication includes tree identification info and and a key to common native trees. I think it would be useful for almost anyone since these trees are common to many areas of the country. It includes keys to common native trees, then a cross reference to a page about that tree. Here is what it says about shortleaf and loblolly pines: 6 a. Needles 6 to 9 inches, cones 3 to 6 inches long  Loblolly Pine, pg. 21. b. Needles 8 to 18 inches, cones 6 to 10 inches long  Longleaf Pine, pg. 22. Page 21: "Loblolly pine: Needles: 6 to 9 inches long, pale green, slender and stiff, in bundles of three" 8 a. Needles 3 to 5 inches, dark yellow green, cones 1½ to 2½ inches long  Shortleaf Pine, pg. 20. Page 20: "Shortleaf pine: Needles: 3 to 5 inches, slender, flexible, dark green, in clusters of 2 or 3." This book has been helpful in improving my limited tree identification skills. I downloaded it for free but cannot find a download link now. You can purchase it for $1.00 from the Virginia Dept of Forestry (link below). Here is a link that might be useful: Native Trees of Virginia

Thanks! I haven't started my Friday yet either! I hear there's some cold beer around though! We had them planted with that specifically in mind, block the neighbor's "stuff". I know we have some years to go but they're already making a difference. We bought the outer two as one species and the middle a different one. Maybe the middle is the Blue Spruce? The out two look so drastically different fat and full on the left, skinny and seeding on the right. Here's one pic of what I consider the healthy one.

Thanks for all the info. I'm still not sure if I should be concerned with the brown tips coinciding with the lack of cones or if this is normal, too. There would be no way to spray these giants (nor can I inspect for bugs) but would some kind of conifer food help? There's been 2 years with big pinecone amounts that I know of, by the frequent gutter cleanings I have done in not quite 2 years I've lived here...neighbor's tree but over my gutters!!! Last year it was clogged with pine cones, this year, I've been out almost every rain storm unclogging the needles. And, yes, this is with gutter covers! Last winter, a little red squirrel piled all 8 trees with 2 foot high mounds of cones for his winter bounty and sat daily, munching and strewing the empty cobs about. I guess he'll find a new winter home. The birds did have a few pinenut frenzies but way up top and not for days and days like last fall. I'm also fighting a bit of lilac blight (again, her lilacs but half are over my property line and front half are under the pines) and at least licked it enough to get lots of new growth and a load of blooms this spring after no blooms the first spring I moved here. Could there be a connection considering they are close by? Can a lilac fungus effect a pine? Doesn't seem likely but I moved here from Brooklyn...what do I know??! I'm game to go with the idea they fluctuate production and keep an eye out. But any ideas how I can make sure to keep them healthy would be welcome.

We have these in a deep purplish/pink color on the forest floor of our property. They grow under the Madrone trees. We have oaks on the property, but these don't grow under them. I loved seeing them come up, but didn't know they may harm the trees. Should we try to knock some of them out? (We don't use poison on anything here) This is the first internet source I have found for any information on these at all - I know I'm not in a similar region as the original post. However, the photo shows an identical plant to the one we have (just a different color). What family of plants do these belong to? Are they a fungi or succulent, or are they in a category of their own? Are they identified by the fact they take their nutrients off of another plant (the roots of the tree)? Thanks.