huge pine cones/what type pine tree?

I am looking for huge pine cones. I wwant a pine tree that produces them also.
Any ideas?
Lavina

The best in NC is Pinus palustris (Longleaf Pine), cones 15-23cm long. Look for it on the coastal plain.

Otherwise, move to California. Pinus lambertiana (Sugar Pine) has the longest cones, 30-60cm long, while Pinus coulteri (Big-cone Pine) has the heaviest, 20-40cm long and up to 2kg weight. But these can't be grown in the NC climate.

Resin

Agreed. P.palustris makes large handsome cones, and would probably work for you there in Raleigh.

I've received some Jeffrey pine(P.jeffreyi) cones from a friend in the Reno NV area - fairly comparable in size to longleaf cones; lighter in color - and the seeds are pretty sizeable, kind of like a plump watermelon seed - not as hefty as pinyon pine seeds, but large enough to do duty as an edible pine nut. Don't know how well, if at all P.jeffreyi would fare in NC.

LavinaMae, keep your eyes peeled for large cones on the ground around pines locally. Longleaf pine-P.palustris does grow here and to the untrained eye doesn't look much different from all the Loblollies around here. You just have to look. Beautiful cones.

Lavina, if you do plant a longleaf try to find some "plugs". These are small seedlings that won't be rootbound from growing in a pot. I do know of one guy on ebay that sells them and I think he is in NC.

I used to live in Heflin Ala and was raisedin Tallapoosa, GA never do I remember big pine cones.
I'll check out the e-bay guy.
Thanks

Lavina

My mature Ponderosa Pine have cones that are between 4 to 5" base and 8 to 10" high. Very symetrical cones and strong. There is a huge market for the cones here to be shipped all over.

Hi Soferdig,

Hmm.
I've got a Jeffrey cone here in the office, 4.5" wide X 6.75" tall. A good, sturdy cone.
Been a while since I've seen a good longleaf cone(you just don't see 'em up here in KY), but it seems like they were bigger - but, that may be a childhood mis-remembrance, as we always tend to remember things from the past as being bigger, better, tastier, etc., whether that was truly the case or not..

the biggest pine cones I have ever seen in my life were at Lake Tahoe, from pines growing on the slopes of that indescribable alpine lake. don't know what kind they were.

Ok folks I may be looking for a Jeffery pine cone found a place says they are 6-9 inches tall.

Lavina

Gloria, maybe a sugar pine like Resin said earlier as they grow in the Sierras.

Lavina- I just measured one random longleaf cone from the ones I collected in December locally- 8 inches tall. I live in Johnston Co. just a short drive from Raleigh.

chamthy I have d-mailed you

Wow huge pine cones in Selma. Never knew that.

I live between Garner and Clayton

Lavina

Gloria,.......if you should happen to frequent Lake Tahoe once again, you might like to visit this locale!!!!

conifer50

California side.......

Confier50: I hope everyone who reads your post will make an effort to go to Sugar Pine park.
Visiting Lake Tahoe was one of those quantum life experiences for me. As a student of Anthropology in California, the Washoe Indians were always presented as "grubbers"--people who lived off grubs and insects. Then I learned their summer home was Lake Tahoe. Those people lived better than most of us! I worked on a research project in the Reno-Tahoe-Virginia City area one summer. It is an area of unique ecology encompasing the desert lake, Pyramid Lake, and the alpine forest at Tahoe that every American should experience. It also, 'splains a lot about western mentality as opposed to how the rest of us think. One woman told me, in Nevada, "women are women and men are men." An antiquated idea if I ever heard one! One might add, "and pine cones are pine cones."

Some large cones (and smaller ones for comparison)

1 Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris) Florida; 23cm
2 Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) Texas; 13cm
3 Jeffrey Pine (Pinus jeffreyi) Calif.; 24cm
4 Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) Oregon; 12cm
5 Big-cone Pine (Pinus coulteri) Calif.; 35cm
6 Sugar Pine (Pinus lambertiana) Calif.; 53cm

Resin

Yes! Excellent comparison. Those pine cones were whoppers! Wonder if the Indians ate the seeds?

Sorry I didn't put this thread in watch. here is the cone maybe not 8" tall most big ones probably 6". This is just one out of my kindling box not one of the big ones.

OK, you coaxed me into dragging out my class pictures.

Well, they are really the Christmas table decoration collection from around the U.S. These are the pines. Some of them might be the same as what Resin illustrated; maybe not.

I had to set up for this assembly, and I had some help.

Looks more like a moggie to me!

This is a meter and a half of Smilax hispida (the orange cat).

He must have et the cones. Bad cat!

I had to bring in law enforcement to restore order; Quercus macrocarpa kept the hooligans at bay.

Is Quercus old enough to date now?

Grief, a whole herd of cats!

From earlier . . .

I didn't expect Ken to have read the measuring stick; he's still thawing.

I did exaggerate the stretch of Smilax; he's only about 90 cm.

Here's the collection.

Anyone want a crack at guessing what this one is?

28cm long.

Resin

VV, what are the smaller ones on the left end? I picked up a couple like that on a trip to the NC coast a few years ago.

BTW that 8 inch cone was the largest of the lot of Longleaf cones I have.

I bet there isn't a single woman in this whole discussion. Who has the biggest cone is happening again. This time I'm saving my big ones! LOL

Hey! I do happen to be a female person. And I bet there is at least one other. Lavinamae sounds suspiciously of the feminine aspect. Nobody told me this was a macho forum!

Is that Mattie driving?

If I knew all the cones in that picture, I'd have listed them. Now I'll leave myself open to Resin's corrections and just guess.

Starting upper left to right:
•seeds from various cones
•Pinus virginiana (4)
•Pinus nigra maybe? (2)
•Pinus strobus (3)

Lower left to right:
•3 big cones from Mt. Tamalpais State Park, near Mill Valley CA; I thought these were Bishop pine (Pinus muricata) but now I think that they are like the Pinus jeffreyi in Resin's picture (though they have the 'hooks' like Pinus coulteri, and are heavy!)
•Pinus x schwerinii 'Prairie Giant' (3)

Being horrible at Pinus ID's, I'll take a stab at Resin's cone. hehe
Is it Pinus wallichiana?

WelI I am a lady, I birthed 2 kids.LOL
Love the cats I needed a laugh and the threads I am reading this AM have got me cacking loudly. Glad I am the only peron in the office so far.
I want some of the 2 biggest cones in the picture.
ViburnumValley did those come from your area?

Talk to you all later.

Lavina

When I get home, I'll take a closeup pic of these cones and seeds. You hold the cats at bay.

Ok, for my second shot in the dark guess to pineresin's cone ID. Pinus ayacahuite ?

Is it in subgenus Pinus, sectionTrifoleae?

Pinus maximartinezii?

edited to say scratch that guess

This message was edited Jan 20, 2007 3:37 PM