Question
How do you tell the difference between white pine trees and red ones and which one is commercially more valuable? Thank you.

Answer
The red pine is a native of the Lake states and eastward throughout New England and southeastern Canada. It had not been planted widely in Iowa until the 1930's. Since then it has been planted quite widely for both erosion control and water conservation , and some for farmstead windbreaks. When growing under natural conditions, the red pine reaches a height of 90 to 100 feet and a diameter of 30 to 40 inches, with a tall, straight, clean trunk and an open, rounded picturesque crown. The tree gets its name from the bright orange-colored or reddish bark, which divides into large plates as the tree matures.

Red pine needles are 4 to 6 inches long and in bundles of two. The dark green needles are soft and flexible. When bent sharply they snap or break cleanly rather than just folding over as do the needles of other pines.

The cone is egg-shaped; 2 to 2-1/4 inches long. The cone scales are smooth and without spines. The seeds are eaten by songbirds and small animals.

Branching: Each year a pine tree produces a new whorl (circle) of branches.

Bark: reddish cast, breaking up into scaly plates

Height: 50 to 80 ft.

Trunk Diameter: 1 to 3 ft.

Longevity: maximum age is about 350 yrs.

Tolerance: intermediate

Range: southern Canada, lake states, and the northeast

White Pine
Bark darkening and thickening as tree ages, smooth and gray on young growth, becoming gray-brown, deeply furrowed with broad ridges of irregularly rectangular, purple-tinged scaly plates.
Branches whorled, few and spreading, with slightly upturned tips. In closed stands, trunks are free of branches over 2/3 of their length.
Twigs slender, flexible, pale red-brown, with rusty hairs when young; aging gray and smooth.
Needles soft, flexible, blue-green; 2"-4" long, 3-sided, in bundles of five. Evergreen.
Buds heavily resinous and sticky, aromatic.
Cones slender and thornless, 3"-10" long and tapering; each scale usually bears two winged seeds as do all native pines.
Roots widespreading and moderately deep, without a distinct taproot
Ages exceeding 400 years are possible; commonly reaches 200 years of age and may exceed 450.
Height of mature trees in nature 80'-110'; largest eastern conifer.
Spread: 20'-40'
As far as commercially more valuable Both are important where they are located. If you want detail information on their importance I would suggest you check with the web site http://forestry.about.com/ and ask the guide Steve Nix for his help. He has a good handle on this type of information.