How to Grow a Colorado Blue Spruce (Fat Albert) in the South 

Did you ever plant one in South Carolina? Did it survive so far? I live in the Charlotte area and I have one that is around 12 years old and still going strong!

@@kurtschmidt5005 thats great! No i never tried planting one here in lexington, south carolina it gets so hot for so long during the summer. But i have managed to plant and grow some alberta spruces, black dragon crytomeria, and a chief joseph pine going on 4 years now. I do have to baby them during the summer and keep them well watered. I lost two of them last summer because i didnt. I guess the main reason i havent tried planting a blue spuce is because i dont have a large enough property to support such a tree. I live in a small lot in a residential neighborhood. Perhaps one day when i get a larger property Lord willing.

@@johnhanson3693 my sister in law lives in the Lexington area and it is hotter than Charlotte!!!

I’m in Columbia SC. Do you have any photos or videos online anywhere? I’ve been growing a lot of evergreens in my yard.

@@BiggCope no but i saw your emerald green arborvitae's on your channel they look great!

Is it still alive?

Hello there! I want to be the first to tell you, you in fact can grow not only Blue Spruce but Norway as well! I live in northwest Alabama, 7B and have had a regular variety blue spruce for 10 years! It was a foot or 2 when planted and now approaching 8 feet tall! It almost died the following years after planted but thank the Lord I gave it a chance! It repaired itself and looks like a spruce tree you’d see in the North!

Blue spruces can grow in zone 9a/9b near the Pacific Ocean in California all over the place. Thing is they need mild summer temps or at least shade during the heat of the day and not soggy soil. Their branching pattern is a little different but as long as you have the watering schedule right you should be fine, they are way more capable than we are told but they generally have issues in super humid places that really seems to do them in.

@@tfinvold I'm zone 9a in TX, our summers are anything but mild. We had a horrible drought this summer. 3 months of no rain and temps over 100° daily. 😬 So I guess no blue spruces for me. 😭💔

Me misses spruce trees since a move to puetro rico. Blue spruce white spruce Norway spruce. Juniper are fine here. Adapt to all climates finding out. But doubt spruce trees adapt to it. Think they like cold.

I'd say atleast 8 ft. :)

Thank you!

@@skgreenhouse I end up return mine 10 gallon size fat Albert today, I realized I just don’t have enough open space for this fat spruce. Love this tree!

Snow Sprite

I appreciate your input and thank you so much for taking the time to watch the video! Respectfully, I will have to disagree with you. We've sold Fat Alberts in this zone for the last 10 years and have had 0 complaints from customers that I know of. Spider mites and bag worms are something that can be treated. I cover this is some of our other videos. What a plant is bred with can make a lot of difference as far as zone suitability. There are plenty of other Picea Pungens that I wouldn't reccomend for Zone 7b. Fat Albert just happens to be one we have had a lot of success with.

Hello there! I want to be the first to tell you, you in fact can grow not only Blue Spruce but Norway as well! I live in northwest Alabama, 7B and have had a regular variety blue spruce for 10 years! It was a foot or 2 when planted and now approaching 8 feet tall! It almost died the following years after planted but thank the Lord I gave it a chance! It repaired itself and looks like a spruce tree you’d see in the North!

@@williamcody9063 hey William! Great job but here’s my opinion. You plant a tree for the future when it really comes into its own like a white oak and Tupelo. Problem with blue spruce in a humid hot summer is that it’s just a matter of time before stress leads to mites that leads to blight etc. Just passed the entrance to a quarry near us that has at least a dozen 15 ft Colorado blue spruce all dead and looking like skeletons. Norway spruce is a warrior. Grows in some harsh environments but that’s exactly how it looks with age….like a haggard old war hero. Don’t know your specific tree needs but there are far better alternatives. If you want to push the envelope there are a few heat tolerant firs that may do well fit for you. They are absolutely beautiful with age. Tony Avent at Plant Delights Nursery has a fir outside his office in Raleigh NC that is spectacular. Good luck my friend and hope you have a great year

@@bluejay3945 Bagworms and mites are the least of Blue Spruce's problems in the south. Rhizosphaera and Stigmina Needle Cast fungus, as well as Phytophthora Root Rot fungus will attack the tree both above and below the ground. The real test is planting a Colorado spruce where it gets sprayed by lawn sprinklers. Show me a picea pungens that gets sprayed by sprinklers and still looks good and then I will admit I am wrong.

@@vadhankikobidze5722 thank you for the more detailed information. I did not want to dive in that deeply It just continues to irk me that the nursery trade continues to push old school plants that have clearly shown impressive limitations rather than develop new material. It all boils down to the American anthem, “ I WANT color, flowers, and low maintenance!” hence a tree native to higher elevations of the Rockies was used up and down the eastern seaboard. The only innovation I’m seeing in shrubs and tress is coming from Europe. The national arboretum used to put out great introductions but I think the creators are either deceased or too old to care. As long as the public continues to support big box store crap over the retail nursery center trade I fully expect an end to American horticulture but people are so naive to the fact. I laugh every time we pass by some McMansion and see skeletal remains of Leyland Cypress, Himalayan white birch and Colorado blue spruce

Nope, they are deer resistant trees.