>>2554839Go away celltard--adults are speaking.
>>2554896>>2554967Doug fir has bottle brush arrangement of leaves--not flat. Doug fir cones are also much more hardy and can be found year round at the base of trees (even under snow). The leaf color is also too dark for a doug.
>>2554898The leaves are completely the wrong color and arrangement on the branch.
>>2555220I live in the PNW and haven't seen balsam in awhile so am at a disadvantage...although that looks exactly like a grand fir.
However--if you look higher up on the tree Balsam leaves will be much less flatter in distribution towards the top or where the tree gets more sun exposure. A Grand Fir will have consistently flat leaves on the entire tree.
Bark and leaf appearance can vary with environment so just looking at the leaves can be hard unless you have both species to put side by side.
One thing I seem to remember about the Grand Fir is the leaves at the tip branches are shorter and I'm pretty sure that isn't true for Balsam where all the leaves average around 3/4 of an inch regardless of position..
>>2554830Long story short: if the sun exposed leaves consistently curl up than it's a Balsam...your other option is to wait until the cones develop then it will be obvious.
