Picea Pungens

Common Name(s):

Blue Spruce, Green Spruce

Phonetic Spelling:

PY-see-uh PUN-jenz

Description: 

Can grow to around 75-100 feet tall. Notable characteristics include its dense leaves and branches, silvery blue pines, and conic shape. Older trees may have drooping lower branches. Often used as Christmas trees. In its natural habitat, it can grow around 10 feet in 10 years. Blue Spruce prefers moist soil with full sun and is more drought tolerant than most tree species from the Picea family. In good living conditions, they usually grow for around 40-60 years. However, in its native habitat, wild trees can grow up to 200 years.

Distribution/Location: 

They are native to native to the central Rocky Mountains from southern Montana and eastern Idaho south to New Mexico.

Environmental Concerns: 

Affected by needlecasts, tip blights, and canker diseases. Also by Gall adelgids and Spruce spider mites. The Gall adelgids usually only cause damage to the trees’ appearance; however, Spruce spider mites can kill the needles of the tree. Other reasons for the decline in population include environmental changes and new diseases and insects.

Citation(s): 

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/what_is_spruce_decline_and_what_should_you_do_about_it#:~:text=There%20are%20three%20principle%20types,useful%20in%20diagnosing%20the%20problem.

Learn More: 

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/picea-pungens/#:~:text=Blue%20spruce%20is%20a%20medium,to%20droop%20toward%20the%20ground.