Even though it was planted last fall, most likely the roots haven't extended very far into the surrounding soil.

Underlying problem may be lack of water. To be certain, check the moisture content of the rootball and surrounding soil with a finger or trowel. Realize that the rootball will dry mucvh more rapidly than the surrounding soil.

Also i would imagine that if the soil in that part of the garden is dry it will soak up any water in the trees rootball. I've noticed in my time many brown conifers in gardens.Either they have high water needs compared to most plants or the rootball dries out quickly. I believe that the small conifers have small compact rootballs compared to other plants with no deep roots and this means they need more careful watering. Excuse me if i'm not making sense,its early here and I've not had my coffee yet;)

We had a very hot and dry (near drought) summer and we lost a small blue spruce similar to yours. Our trees are a very long way from our house so we didn't notice it turning brown right away. By the time we found it, it was too late. We watered it heavily and often but still lost it. I dug it up a few weeks ago and the soil around the root ball was extremely dry.

We have other blue, white and serbian spruces in the same area and they are doing fine.

Best of luck.

Ivy sure harbors a lot of insects. A LOT!

I am betting on a weak root system. With that in mind it usually takes them a year or less to die. I am all to familiar with what yours looks like and what's next. Get it back to the nursery before the warranty expires.

Dave

I think Dave's right. The uniformity of the problems suggest to me that the roots cannot support it.

That's a gonner.

Regards,

Dax

I am sooooooooo bummed. It's the only thing the deer haven't eaten down to the stalk and now it's dead. And, of course, out of warranty. It was growing so well earlier this summer!!

The soil was a bit dry. I guess I should have watered it more. Ugh.

Well, look at this as a learning opportunity. Practically everyone on this forum has lost some conifers at one time or another, so it happens to us all. Even though most conifers don't like excessive moisture, they usually benefit from a bit of extra moisture and some extra attention for the first few years.

Losses happen, and all you can do is learn about what happened and why it happened. I've learned that under hot and dry growing conditions it's beneficial to mulch conifers. If you don't mulch them the chances of losing the tree are increased. The small blue spruce we lost this summer was not mulched (none of our 'windbreak group' of conifers are mulched) and we've had a few losses over the years due to excessive heat and dry soil conditions. Our 'landscape' conifers closer to the house are all mulched and watered occasionally and so far we have not lost any of them.

I believe experience (with some advice from members of this forum!) is a great teacher. So don't be too hard on yourself.

Dave

I lost my baby blue eyes ... looked the same way as yours ... a month later it was totally dead. Sorry for your loss.

Hey There, this has happened to me before as well-here is my suggestion and it works like a charm for the next time you plant try using a product called-MYKE(tree and shrub). This helps support the root system and makes all the difference between life and death. MYKE products are easy to use and safe for the environment. You can purchase at most reputable garden centres. Best luck with you next baby blues.

Your Blue Spruce may have Mites. Check to see if little webs between the branches. If so use seven a pesticide sold at local home improvement stores. I spray mine once in the spring and once in the fall and it seems to keep the mites away.

I want to make one comment, peripheral to this poster's question: Two summers ago, it was hot and dry here. Last summer, cool and dry. Even more than two years ago, we were in a rut of having storm systems during the growing season avoid this area. Many tree species and genera showed the ill effects of this protracted dry spell, but none more than spruce. Some died but nearly all showed thin foliage, etc.

Along comes this year with record rains, especially in June and July (So far). And the turn-around in the visual quality of spruce is nothing short of amazing. This definitely includes pungens (Blue spruce). Also of interest, to me anyway, is that the endemic problem for blue spruce in our area-cytospora canker-which presents as a gradual death of branches, starting low on the tree and working up, has been notably less severe.
This contradicts the usual notion that blue spruce thrives in dry conditions. I just don't see it. They look as good or better now than ever. FWIW, I do know that high humidity over a longish period of time IS implicated in the transmission of this fungal disease. But......I believe that is more than made up for by the trees' having good vigor due to constant adequate soil moisture. As such, I'd expect that the combination of lots of humidity, but dry soils to be the double whammy responsible for incidence of cytospora on spruce.

Please note-I am not saying that the OP's tree is suffering from this malady. I've seen spruce exhibit this symptom also, but for the life of me, I haven't yet figured out what the culprit is.

+oM