Where the climate is suitable (oceanic temperate rainforest, with mild winters and cool summers), very fast - young trees at up to 2 metres per year, and 40m tall in 43 years. But it won't like your zone 6 continental climate at all, sorry to say.

They're very windfirm where there is reasonable drainage, but liable to windblow in waterlogged soils. The wood is very tough.

Resin

The Virginia State Arboretum planted a Sitka spruce a few years ago. I took special note of it because of my familiarity with it from my years living on the west coast. And, when I saw it I thought, wow! I will watch this one to see how it does. The next time I looked, and it may have been the next year, it was gone. I never asked the curator what happened.

Maybe you can give yours some winter protection--mulch and some kind of wind barrier for the winter if it is in an exposed location.

Please report back to us on how it does.

I think it is always worth trying things that based on any analysis of their native range would seem a poor bet. A notable example is baldcypress, which is hardy at least to central Michigan, and doesn't need to grow on wet sites, and my old favorite, Norway spruce which does much better than anticipated in hot and dry climates. Some fir trees are confounding expectations.

--Spruce

Spurce,

What do you consider hot and dry. Norway spruce is one of my favorites, but I've never give it a chance. Always want what you cannot have...

osprey

awww oh well
should i just throw them away while there still little and managable?

the tag did say zone 6, i bought them at lowes last fall

If you just planted them last fall, don't give up. Conifers are dormant in the winter, growing happens spring to fall so I'm surprised you have seen any growth at all.

Tags that only give the zone aren't enough information; in the US, zones are determined only by minimum winter temp. When buying a new, unknown to you plant ask the nursery people for advice. At a big box retailer like Lowes, resist buying unfamiliar plants until you go home and look up the growing requirements.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sitka Spruce

Just to whet your appetite . . . ;-)

Sitka Spruces, 50-55m tall, in a plantation in northeast England
{{gwi:672219}}

Resin

Resin, there was another post here where someone posted that pic and stated they were Norway spruces. I swear it was you, lol.:) I tried to find the thread but no luck.

well dang i dont want that next to my house lol
when i planted them in was in september, technically not fall yet but once school starts its fall to me lol
we had a very mild fall and late winter so i think the sitkas had time to settle in. for the first two months i kept them watered and left the hose on mist for a few hours a day. now this is easy while they are this size but when they get bigger it might be an odd task
maybe they were sold to be used as bonsai?

im still not sure if i should take them out or not.
if it were you would you dig them up and toss them?

Hi Wadet,

It was me posted it before, but with the right ident :-)

Resin

Here is a link that might be useful: This thread

Ospreynn:

By hot and dry I am talking about the D.C. area where we get frequent summer droughts, the average July highs are 88, and temps of 100 are not uncommon. But it is humid here. In NM I would think Norway spruce would be worth trying in the mountains where it is cooler and rainier. As for lower semi-arid areas, I would not have much hope. Norway spruce can tolerate droughts very well, but not persistent low rainfall.

Norway spruce is very adaptable, and can survive in areas it is really unsuited to, but with poor growth and appearance. If you wanted to give it a try, you should be careful about the seed source for your trees. NS grows across a wide area of Europe, and trees from northern or high mountain sources may not do as well as those from lower, more eastern and southern European sources. Most growers can tell you the seed source for the trees they sell. If you ask a nursery where it got its trees you can probably track down the source.

--Spruce

Hi Spruce,

I don't know if I should try it. So far P. pungens and P. chihuahuana grow well here. I also have a P. glauca densata that is hanging in there (3 years now). Do you know a source of P. abies from southern/eastern Europe.....

osprey

Hi Osprey,

I'd guess the lowest altitude origins from Bulgaria would be the best choice for you.

Resin

Thanks Resin, the problem will be getting seeds or even better, trees from there. Any nursery in the US selling P. abies from southern sources
I can take out of my mind the picture I have from the Black Forest (from Baden-Baden to Freiburg)... never seen that many P. abies before

osprey

Ospreynn:

No, I don't know of any specific source. What I have done in the past is contact some of the seedling producers, such as Musser Forests, Vans Pines, Carino Nurseries, etc. (you can do a web search to find more names) and maybe even contact people like Forest Farm, which does not sell in such bulk, and ask what seed source they have used. The odds of finding the one Resin recommends are small, although if you are really determined and want to follow up you could contact one or two of the seed sellers and see what they may have. You could get some seed and then have someone grow it for you--or grow it yourself, which is not always as easy as growing flower seeds. My attempts have resulted in less than 20% germination and even less survival after that. But then I did not study up on the best methods.

If you can't get the best seed source, and even if you can, you should probably plant a dozen or more seedlings. There is so much variability even from seedling to seedling from the same seed source, that you really improve your chances of getting a few that will really perform for you.

There is some evidence for this approach. Dr. Charles Maynard, at SUNY Syracuse, is a big advocate of "land races." By that he means getting seed from a local source, regardless of the provenance of the original planting, for local use. What this implies is that in the first generation of a planting of Norway spruce there is enough variety in adaptability to the local climate, that the strongest survivors in a stand will produce seed that when grown will show a high degree of adaptation. If the first generation land races are as good as Dr. Maynard believes, this is quite a remarkable thing, and is in effect saying that even if the seed source is not the best (from an area where the growing conditions are quite different from the local conditions), if you have a fair number of seedlings, there is a very high probability that at least a few will be well adapted to the conditions they are planted. So get seedlings from the best source you can find, as I suggested, and you should get at least a few really good trees.

This is one of the things that Dr. Genys wanted to test when he set up his provenance trial that the MD nursery destroyed, as I explained in a previous post about "The fastest growing pine tree" recently.

If P. pungens and the other spruces you name are growing there, I would have very high hopes for P. abies.

Hi Vaderbanger,

"im still not sure if i should take them out or not.
if it were you would you dig them up and toss them?"

Ooops - missed seeing this before! I'd be inclined to keep them, as an experiment to see just in case they do survive. They probably won't get through the summer, and you can toss them when they do die, but it seems a pity to do so while they're still alive.

Resin

Vandebanger

"Don't what that next to my house"

How close to the house did you plant them? Sitka spruce can get to 40ft in 15 to 20 years, 200ft at maturity and 10 to 15ft in diameter. If you don't have room for them, better get 'em out now and give them to someone else who has room.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sitka Spruce

there about 20 feet from my house

what happends to them in the summer that would make them not survive? the hot sun? himidity is around 70-90%
hot days with cooler humid nights. theres always dew on the lawn in the morning

Summer heat, and in particular hot summer nights. In its native range, summer daytime temperatures are typically between 12 and 25°C, and night minimum temperatures between 8 and 17°C.

Resin