Probably normal seedling variation. Colorado spruces also vary from quite blue to quite green. But those produce longer needles, stouter twigs.

Without knowing why your Colorado spruce died, it is impossible to comment on the likelihood of the others failing also.

How do the needles of the blue ones feel? If they are blue spruce you'll feel it. Hence the name Picea pungens.

tj

any chance at a pic

the disease that affects very old trees.. is SAID not to affect the young ...

perhaps you are worried for nothing

ken

Thanks everyone.
Tj, are you saying that the blue spruce needles will feel sharper? I'll take a pic of what is supposed to be the Black Hills spruce.
The older blue spruce that died has been on the decline for about 15 years. Just the part at the top is still living. Its probably about 35 years old.
It may be the fact that it is located between a "Y" in our driveway. The center of the tree is about 6-8' from the edge of the drive on each side, and we've had our drive regraded several times through the years.....even though they stayed at least 3-5' away from the dripline.

I have never seen a blue Black Hills spruce in any nursery I have been in.

How many Picea pungens blue spruces you see at big box stores that are green. Most have poor color and most always green.

Probably a mis-mark.

Dave

All these came from this one smaller nursery. He had a whole bunch of them to start with. Maybe he got a good deal on them. But I haven't seen them anywhere else.

how about a picture to make us believers

ken

I'll try to get one for you tomorrow ken.

I was able to get out tonight before it got dark. Here's a pic of part of the tree. Didn't want to show the whole thing, 'cause there's too many weeds around the bottom!
Can you tell if its a Black Hills spruce vs a Colorado Blue?

Looks like typical Black Hills Spruce to me. I used to see (and grow) some that were quite blue like this in both Ohio and Minnesota.

The disease that affected your Blue Spruce is Leucostoma (Cytospora) canker. It slowly kills branches from the bottom up on Blue Spruce that are usually over 30 years old in the Midwest. Wounds and high humidity increase the potential for this disease. Black Hills Spruce and Norway spruce are largely resistant to this disease - though not immune.

Thanks salicaceae!
I also love Austrian pines and had/have about 8 of them, but they are all dying. I think its called diplodia blight??
That's really too bad. Wherever I drive anywhere around this area, they're all dying. At Home depot this spring, they were selling beautiful ones for $10 each (about 2' tall and very healthy looking). Too bad they're all going to die. :(
Anyhow.......thanks for helping me i.d. these black hills spruce trees. I'm down to pretty much just buying white pine, Black Hills and Norways these days.
Is there some easy way to differentiate these from Colorado blue spruce?
Thanks!

Colorado spruce produces longer, thicker needles and stouter shoots.

Thanks bboy.

Walmart had some small conifers marked "norway spruce" that didn't look too bad, for really cheap, but not being an expert, I wasn't going to trust their labels.
I trust bigger nurseries more, but have also gotten mis-labeled plants from really good ones. I think they were mislabeled at the place that produced them.

Yes, except for apparent creative labeling at big boxes most misidentifications encountered at retailers will originate with suppliers.

Very nice and correctly identified spruces...(!)

Dax