--- title: Colorado Blue Spruce in Northern Nevada | Tree Guide url: https://battleborntreeservice.com/tree-guide/colorado-blue-spruce/ business: Battle Born Tree Service address: 6301 US Highway 50 East, Carson City, NV 89701 phone: 775.232.8243 hours: Office Monday-Friday 8:30 am-5:00 pm; phones answered seven days a week; 24-hour emergency service credentials: ISA Certified Arborist WE-11728A on staff; Nevada Business License # 20131580674; fully insured type: Tree service (removal, crane work, pruning, stump grinding, defensible space, snow removal, firewood) --- - [Home](https://battleborntreeservice.com/) - [Tree guide](https://battleborntreeservice.com/tree-guide/) - Colorado blue spruce # Colorado blue spruce Colorado blue spruce is the stiff, blue-green, cone-shaped evergreen planted as a front-yard specimen on many Northern Nevada lots. It is a mountain tree with shallow roots, so it struggles in our dry valleys, and a spruce with thinning lower branches or dead patches in the crown is one to have assessed. - **Botanical name:** Picea pungens - **Type:** Evergreen conifer, native to the Rocky Mountains - **Height:** Typically 70 to 115 feet in the wild; yard trees are often smaller - **Trunk:** Up to about 3 feet across - **Lifespan:** Long lived; the oldest recorded was about 600 years - **Roots:** Shallow; one study found 73.6 percent in the top 2 feet of soil It is easy to spot: the symmetrical shape and silvery needles give it away. It is also one of the trees most likely to decline slowly on a dry lot. ## How do you identify a blue spruce? The needles are stiff, four-sided and sharp-pointed, about 1 to 1.25 inches long, and they roll between the fingers rather than lying flat. Color runs from green to a silvery blue. The crown is dense and cone-shaped, with horizontal to drooping branches that start low on the trunk, and the cones hang down. - Stiff, sharp, four-angled needles that prick - Silvery-blue to green foliage - Spire-shaped crown with branches close to the ground - Hanging cones ## Where does it grow here, and why is it a hard fit? In the Rockies the Forest Service puts it in canyons and moist slopes, from about 6,700 to 8,500 feet in Colorado canyons. In Northern Nevada it is a planted tree on lots from the valley floors (Reno at 4,500 feet, Carson City at 4,700 feet) up to Tahoe-basin yards above 6,200 feet. At the higher elevations the cold and the extra precipitation suit it better. The nearest valley NOAA stations record 7 to 9 inches of precipitation a year, while Glenbrook, at 6,350 feet, records about 18 inches. The Forest Service notes that shallow roots restrict blue spruce to moist sites where water is near the surface, and that trees transplanted into drier conditions in the southern Rockies died of drought. On a hot, gravelly valley lot, it lives on irrigation. ## What goes wrong with blue spruce? Drought is the main one: the crown thins from the bottom and inside, then browns at the tips. The Forest Service also lists dwarf mistletoe, western spruce budworm, heart and root rots, cankers and, occasionally, bark beetles as problems for the species. Each needs an on-site look by an arborist to identify. Rot at the base is a safety question because a spruce with decayed roots can fall, see [root and trunk decay](https://battleborntreeservice.com/tree-guide/root-and-trunk-decay/). Fire behavior matters near a house. The Forest Service says blue spruce is easily killed by fire and notes that slow self-pruning lets surface fires reach the crown, and University of Nevada Extension advises keeping evergreen woody plants at least 30 feet from the house. A spruce right against a wall is a good candidate for [defensible space work](https://battleborntreeservice.com/tree-services/defensible-space-fire-mitigation/). ## Pruning and removal Dead branches can come off any time. For other cuts, conifers are usually pruned in early spring and summer. Spruce does not regrow from bare wood, so heavy cutting leaves permanent holes; the useful work is deadwood, lifting a skirt that touches the ground and clearing branches off the roof and wires. Removal is the usual answer when more than half the crown has died, when there is a dead top, when the base shows decay, or when the tree has outgrown the space. Blue spruce does not sprout from the stump. Ask for [stump grinding](https://battleborntreeservice.com/tree-services/stump-grinding/) if the spot needs to be used again. Our [tree removal](https://battleborntreeservice.com/tree-services/tree-removal/) estimate is free, and a certified arborist assesses the job before work begins. ### Sources - [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Picea pungens](https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/picpun/all.html) (read October 17, 2026) - [University of Nevada Cooperative Extension: Gardening Guide for High-Desert Urban Landscapes of Great Basin Regions in Nevada and Utah (SP-13-09)](https://naes.agnt.unr.edu/PMS/Pubs/2013-3170.pdf) (read October 17, 2026) - [NOAA NCEI: U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020](https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/land-based-station/us-climate-normals) (read October 17, 2026) ### Talk to the office [775.232.8243](tel:775.232.8243) | Monday to Friday | 8:30 am - 5:00 pm | |---|---| | Saturday and Sunday | Office closed, phones answered | Phones answered seven days a week. 24-hour emergency service. [Free estimate](#quote) ### Keep reading - [White fir](https://battleborntreeservice.com/tree-guide/white-fir/) - [Drought stress and dieback](https://battleborntreeservice.com/tree-guide/drought-stress-and-dieback/) - [Root and trunk decay](https://battleborntreeservice.com/tree-guide/root-and-trunk-decay/) - [Defensible space and fire mitigation](https://battleborntreeservice.com/tree-services/defensible-space-fire-mitigation/) - [Tree removal](https://battleborntreeservice.com/tree-services/tree-removal/) ### When to prune - [When should spruce trees be pruned?](https://battleborntreeservice.com/faq/pruning-and-trimming/when-to-prune-spruce/) ### Terms on this page [Arborist](https://battleborntreeservice.com/glossary/arborist/) [The full glossary](https://battleborntreeservice.com/glossary/) ## Questions people ask Still have a question? Call [775.232.8243](tel:775.232.8243). Phones are answered seven days a week. ### Why is my blue spruce dying from the bottom up? Lower and inner branches die first when a shallow-rooted spruce is short of water, and the Forest Service links the species' shallow roots to moist-site growth. Other causes include root rot and mistletoe, so an arborist should confirm. ### How big does a blue spruce get? The Forest Service gives 70 to 115 feet and trunks up to 3 feet across in the wild. Yard trees are usually smaller but still large near a house. ### Will a spruce sprout again after it is cut? It does not. Cut spruce wood does not resprout from bare limbs, and the Forest Service says it does not sprout after fire either. ### Can you remove a spruce near power lines? Trees near NV Energy primary lines are handled with the utility. For clearance around a service drop or a structure, we offer utility and structure clearance work; ask on the estimate.