How to Buy Spruce Trees

Spruces are cold hardy.

An ideal Christmas tree, a spruce has a conical form that looks equally at home in traditional or informal plantings. Spruces also have a variety of colors and forms ranging from the weeping blue spruce (Picea pungens "Pendula") to the chubby "Fat Albert." Spruces have problems that aren't an issue with other trees. Avoid these weaknesses when buying a spruce and have a long-lived, healthy conifer in your landscape.

Things You'll Need

• Gloves
• Tree wrap

Instructions

1. Choose the species based on mature size, color and disease resistance. Colorado blue spruce (Picea pungens) has a range of eye-catching blue-green to steel blue colors and grows best in dry conditions. Varieties of blue spruce grow from 10 to 100 feet tall. Mites, rust and other pests commonly attack blue spruce.

   White spruce (P. glauca) has a greater resistance to disease and prefers colder zones. Dwarf Alberta spruce (P. glauca 'Conica') is a small, slow-growing ornamental shrub that grows for years in containers. Norway spruce (P. abies) is the most resistant to pests and is very hardy, according to the University of Minnesota Extension service.

2. Buy from a reputable nursery. Occasionally, nurseries grow spruce trees close together, and neighboring trees shade the lower portions of the spruce. The shaded sections lose their branches. Unlike deciduous trees, spruces will not regrow these lost limbs. Do not buy a lopsided or bare spruce tree from a discount nursery and expect it to regain missing branches.

3. 

   A healthy spruce has evenly colored needles.

   Examine the trees carefully for diseases. Nurseries and big-box stores water their plants daily, but spruce trees dislike the humid conditions. Common fungal diseases such as Rhizosphaera needle cast are spread by splashing water. Check the lower branches for discolored, mottled, yellow or brown needles, especially near the trunk of the spruce. Another disease, spruce needle rust, affects the tips of spruce branches, turning the needles yellow. Avoid any trees that show discoloration or a thin canopy.

4. Purchase the spruce. If the spruce is in a plastic container and will be immediately planted, ask the nursery to cut the container. Removing the root ball is much easier when the container has been slit vertically along the sides. If you plan to travel along highways, wrap the spruce with a commercial tree wrap to prevent wind damage.

Tips & Warnings

• Save the receipt and the sales tag. Many nurseries offer a year guarantee or more, but only if the receipt is presented for an exchange. Keep a designated folder or envelope for gardening receipts.

• Do not buy a spruce with roots growing from the bottom of the container. These trees are root-bound and establish slowly.

References

• Purdue University Extension: Colorado Blue Spruce Trees and Growing New Lower Branches?
• University of Minnesota Extension: Diseases of Spruce Trees in Minnesota
• "Sunset Western Garden Book"; Kathleen N. Brenzel, ed.: 1995

Resources

• University of Missouri Extension: Selecting Landscape Plants: Needled Evergreens