Did you buy this conifer from the same nursery you took the clipping to? I tend to be very suspicious of their amateurish diagnosis unless you spoke to a trained horticulturist. Black spots on leaves or conifer needles need expert analysis to determine what the real issue is that is causing you problem. I would remove it now. I would bet if a couple strong hands grabbed hold of that tree you could pull it right out of the hole. In its stressed condition probably no root growth has taken place. After you have it out of the ground hose the root ball to expose root structure. You could find there is not enough root structure there to promote its ability to grow and be healthy. If that's the case there's your answer to you problem. If not then disease and I revert back to fungus is the villain. What ever the cause I would clean up the planting area to the extent not one needle is left in the mix to re-infect your new planting. Dave

You're right on the money and it's believable that a lot of these strains actually maintain similar shape, color, etc, and of course a higher percentage of blue seedlings. "That's why they are selected." There's an Abies balsamea called 'Cooks Blue Improved' which I was told is not the correct name, but that's how Schumaker's Seed sells it. It might be, "Cooks Improved Blue'... I've never heard of your Spruce strain or any other. But, certainly self-pollinating trees that offer great character, with others of great character will give you special seeds. --Dax

It does have a great bright color. So your planting eight 'C. Blue'? That will be one beautiful bIue grove. I don't have one, but was thinking about adding one last year. I have since decided to not add anymore Picea pungens since all of mine recently suffered from needle cast. I'm going to be treating them with fungicide every spring and fall now, or keep a closer eye on them now to prevent it from possibly happening again. I'm not sure how they fare in St. Louis, but it seems to be a gamble here. Some do great and grow large and beautiful, untouched by the needle cast, and some get ugly, loosing a lot of needles. Happy planting.

Ive had 2 baby blue eyes and 10 or so baby blue in the ground about 4 years(one year the local nursery got waaaaaaaay tooo many baby blue(blue is cool blue is cool blue is cool blue is cool blue is cool, and in case you forget blue is cool!)), pulled out the worst looking/greenest ones and sold them for cheap). Baby blue eyes is noticeably denser, at least in these smaller specimens. Baby blue is seed grown and thus there will be some variation bw specimens (Ive observed this is color with some noticeably more green or blue than others). According to the grower in Ontario, Canada, baby blue is a “slightly narrower” version of a basic P. Pungens. Only have one close pic of baby blue eyes and none of baby blue. If it was me, Id get one or two of each. If I had to pic just one, I would pick the baby blue eyes. It seems like one of the older tried and true varieties that has been largely been overlooked in more recent years. The baby blue eyes specimen I planted in the front yard, which is largely shade, has been doing quite well. In time though, who knows as I also like the idea that baby blue will probably be narrower in the long term.