Help with pine specimen collected on mountain in Montana.

[sorce]

Anyone want to start a pool on how long it takes for the foliage to start turning brown?

That's sooooooo wrong!

So I love it !

But in the bag.....

I'm guessing it goes straight to black.

Or grey.

But sho not brown!

Sorce

 

[M. Frary]

it's a special tree.

I hate to say this.
Don't get attached to any tree too much.
The more you do this hobby you will come to realize this.
And the better off you will be.
What makes it so special?
And please don't get me wrong because I see this all the time here: "It was going to be dug up or cut down or bulldozed and it should be saved"
Most of these ones are goners from the get go.
It's usually the wrong season, identification of species is usually a question and it's always by inexperienced collectors. If you have experience collecting you would or I hope you would have an idea of what's being dug up and the proper time of year to dig up a tree.
It may sound harsh and not very nice but it's the truth.
Good luck with it. And I hope it pulls through for you but if it doesn't try another tree.
I've got piles of dead trees to my name. I'm not proud of it but it's the truth. It happens out of the blue for no apparent reason or from obvious reasons. Well most times I kill a tree the reasons are obvious.

 

[Bavarian Raven]

To tell if it's a fir or spruce grab a branch. Spruce needles are sharp n hurt. Firs, not so much.