I'm not sure why I'm going against your request not to respond since my many spruce (Norway, Colorado, Black Hills, etc) face all directions and don't seem to have problems. So you're free to ignore me too. Maybe the following from the North Dakota State Univ. system has some views you can use. Maybe not. Two types of sun injury, winter and summer, are found in North Dakota (and to editorialize, probably in Iowa, too). Winter sunscald (winter burn) is caused by a combination of high and low temperatures during the late winter or early spring. Temperatures on exposed surfaces of the shrubs or trees increase sufficiently to allow respiration in normally dormant cells. As the cells become active, water is given off. Because the soil is still frozen and roots are inactive, moisture in the active cells cannot be replaced. The result is drying of the tissue. The incidence of injury is usually much higher following a late snowfall, especially if followed by sunny weather and warm winds. Injuries localized on sun-exposed surfaces are classed as "winter sun scald" (winter burn); this distinguishes the injury from "sunscorch" which is due to the drying effect of high summer temperatures. Winter injury is probably a much more common cause of leaf drying and limb cankers than summer injury in the northern regions. Stages in severity of damage caused by sunscald are: first the killing of needletips, followed by the death of the entire needle. Moderate types of winter sunscald are confined to small upper branches on the southwest face of the plant. When sunscald occurs frequently, follow practices in home plantings which prevent excessive overheating of the sun-exposed surfaces. Board, lath or burlap screens may be made to shade exposed surfaces. Remove all dead branches only after growth starts in the spring. Many branches with winter burned needles will put out new shoots.

i dont see any yellow or brown needles... or did they already fall off ... interior needle shed is normal ... increased by a bad winter .. perhaps better pic?? ken

hot spit... did you followed every post we ever wrote on how to do it right .. crikey ... beautiful ... but you couldnt help yourself with the 'nure eh ... lol ... but that isnt the issue ... a the boy said... dig .. with a hand trowel.. 6 to 8 inche holes.. on the periphery of the ball you plnated... AND FIND OUT WHATS GOING ON DOWN THERE ... its either too wet.. or too dry ... adjust accordingly ... but do let us know ... my spring was 4 to 6 weeks late this year.. just south of ann arbor... EVERYTHING was late ... so your story doesnt surprise me ... but that story eneded.. for spruce.. about the first week or two of june .... mid to late july is way off ... the boy is probably right.. but you wont know about the root slaughter, if any .. until it dies and you bare root it and find out ... finally.. it is not uncommon ... for them to show the result of the digging.. shipping and planting stresses.. when the real heat of the midwest hits in late july/august ... double finally ... there is a phase. just after bud break.. when the growth is so huge.. so fast.. that the plant appears droopy ... and it takes a few weeks for the plant to pump it up ... triple finally.. give us a pic ... you are making us guess... at best ... ken ps: we could do you a lot better than a bigboxstore green plain old spruce.. if you asked ... mail order for fall.. will solve all your problems ... lol

cal ... do not buy the picea pungens .... wait until spring ... to verify its spring color .... the blue.. is a waxy coating.. its is prime.. the best ... at spring flush .. this is when you buy an unnamed variety ... if you want to buy now.. you buy a named variety.. [of which we can provide names and mail order places] ... and do to such.. there will be predictability of color .. as a waxy coating.. it wears off to some extent.. over the summer.. high heat.. rain storms... sprinklers.. just to piss you off ..... etc ... so they all dull up to some extent.. as summer rolls by ... if you look in the interior.. you will see 2 and 3 years old needles.. nearing the green color all needles are.. under the wax.. this is all normal .. regardless.. BUY A NAMED VARIETY ... even if you have to buy smaller and mail order ... and it will make your toes tingle.. too many peeps buy unnamed seedlings... which are kinda blue.. and hope they will be like the ones that make your toes curl ... odds are.. it wont be .... go for quality .. over the instant gratification of size.. pic below of my Picea pungens Hoopsi.. at spring flush.. showing its annual growth.. starting from a one gallon ... one foot turd ... ken it was a blue turd.. lol...