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Picea pungens

Colorado Blue-spruce · Colorado Spruce · Blue Spruce

Family PinaceaeGenus Picea

Narrow blue-green conifers with tiered branches standing along a ridge, against a cliff banded red below and white above.
The whole plantQuinn Dombrowski from Chicago, USACC BY-SA 2.0

About the plant

What it is and where it grows — not part of any germination protocol.

The plant

Habit
treePlants of the World Online
Habit
Perennial, TreePLANTS Database
Height
30-60 ft9-18 mExtension Gardener Plant Toolbox
Spread
10-20 ft3-6.1 mExtension Gardener Plant Toolbox
Flower
YellowPLANTS Database
Blooms
Late SpringPLANTS Database
Native range
Native to the lower 48 statesPLANTS Database
Hardiness zones
2-7Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox

Growing conditions

Sun
Full sun; Partial ShadeExtension Gardener Plant Toolbox
Soil
Clay, High Organic Matter, Loam (Silt)Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
Soil pH
5.5-7.8PLANTS Database
Moisture
Good DrainageExtension Gardener Plant Toolbox
Watering
Drought tolerance: MediumPLANTS Database

Toxicity is noted only where a source states it. No note here is not a finding of safety.

Sources: Plants of the World Online — Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; PLANTS Database — USDA NRCS; Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox — NC State Extension.

Worth knowing

  • Only part of the wild population has the waxy blue-gray coat it is named for. Picea probably comes from the Latin pix, pitch, for the sticky resin; pungens means sharply pointed. Wikipedia: Blue spruce

Protocol

DerivedN. C. Deno, 1998

Difficulty High Rated by us, not by the source.

  1. Gibberellic acid soak

  2. Sow and cover

    Temperature: 70°F 21°C

No stated waiting before sowing. Then 12 days to germinate.

20% germination in 12 days.

Seed Germination Theory and Practice, 2nd Supplement — N. C. Deno, 1998 · 2nd Supplement, Picea p. 55Public domain
Show the original text
Picea (Pinaceae). P. pungens (KR) germ. 70D(none) and 70 GA-3(20% on 12th d). An earlier sample had given 4% (fresh seed) and 10% (seed DS 6 m) germination in 70D, but GA-3 had not been tried (2nd Ed.).
Seed Germination Theory and Practice, 2nd Supplement, 2nd Supplement, Picea p. 55. Quoted exactly. Every value on this card comes from this record, except the difficulty rating, which is ours; the step names come from a fixed list.

How each step is done, in Deno’s words, and what Verified and Derived mean.

Germination trials

Readers’ own records of sowing this species, published after review. Share your trial · All trials

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