I planted a several rows of mixed Norway Spruce and eastern white pine for the same reasons you are along a busy road and a subdivision that went in next to my farm.

I too have a terrible problem with deer... they eat/rub everything I plant from pines, pears, maples and even the supposed deer resistant Norway spruce. After only a week from planting, several had been nearly destroyed by deer so I tried "deer-off" spray and haven't had any problems since... I've applied the spray once every 2 months but I'm sure i'll still have issues.

Just be aware that if you have a heavy deer population, there is really nothing they won't eat, spruce included!

This is a tough question. First of all, I agree that if deer are hungry there's nothing they won't eat, including virtually any conifer that you can name. We've lost the leaders on many small conifers to deer over the years.

Regarding spruces, I'm in a similar situation with a loud road in front of our house. Many years ago the previous owners planted a staggered row of white spruces as a combination wind and noise break. They are about 40 feet tall now and look great. They take a terrible beating from western winds and storms in summer and winter and don't seem to mind at all. Some are slightly angled due to the strong winds but otherwise they are very healthy.

A few years ago we decided to extend the windbreak and hired a tree service to move several 10 to 12 foot tall Norway spruces from our back property line to the area next to the white spruces (buying new trees that size would have been very expensive and out of our budget). The tree service did a good job and all the Norways made the transition, obviously losing some roots in the process.

Even though it's not a fair comparison becuase the white spruces are well established and in their original location while the Norways were moved and lost major root mass, I've noticed that the Norways are much thinner on the windy side (nearest the road) and very lush and full on the house side. From our house both sets of trees look equally good, but from the road the white spruces are much denser.

So not an accurate comparision for sure, but if it were me starting over at our location I'd probably go with all white spruces.

Much probably depends on your local conditions (zone, soil type, moisture levels, etc.) and how fast/large you want the screen. Norways typically grow faster than white spruce and tend to be larger trees in general.

Just some ideas.

HTH,

Dave

Not sure where you are, but if salt spray from the road is an issue you may want to go with the Norways, or at least have them nearest the road and have the White Spruce on the inside row for diversity.

tj

Egrety

Both are fine trees. As mentioned above, NS will tend towards more rapid growth. Both species, given good growing conditions, will be very dense. Both have the genetic potential to become quite lofty.

I don't agree that Colorado spruce is so very slow growing. I would think a foot per year is easily obtainable. In the eastern half of the U.S. cytospora canker can do considerable damage to this species, yet there are fine specimens around that appear unaffected.

If it were me, I'd go with a mix of these species. Also, those horrendously sheared specimens will eventually grow out of that nonsensical look. The period where they're doing so can be somewhat awkward, but given sufficient time, they will regain the natural cascading beauty that spruce are all about. Good luck with your project!

+oM

Where are you? In a reasonably moist Z5 white spruce do very well, and may be denser than Norway spruce. The problem with Norway spruce is there is a lot of variability from tree to tree--they don't all grow alike. At their best, Norway spruce can be as dense as white spruce, and are ultimately more beautiful trees. But white spruce, if you are in a climate where it grows well, is a very good choice. I am not sure if Norway spruce is more tolerant of road salt spray than Norway spruce, but Norway spruce is much more tolerant than most kinds of pines.

As for deer, both Norway spruce and white spruce are very resistant to browsing, but both can be destroyed by buck rubbing. Spraying with a deer repellent during the buck rubbing season should help a lot. After the trees get about 5 inches in diameter and/or have developed some good width to their foliage (5 feet or more), spraying should no longer be needed.

--Spruce

I forgot to mention this earlier, but you might also look at Black Hills spruce (picea glauca var. densata).

BH spruce is a member of the white spruce family and generally looks similar to white spruce except that the BH spruce is often a bit denser and the needles are a bit more greenish in color and are slightly heavier. The BH spruce is well-suited for severe climates and tolerates snow and cold very well. They are native to the Dakotas.

The downside to BH spruce is that it grows slower than white spruce and significantly slower than Norway spruce. Typically BH spruce is also a smaller tree than either the white or Norway.

I'm not sure how any of these trees do with road salt, but our white spruces near the road (15 to 20 feet away from roadside) show no signs of salt damage.

I've attached a link with info on BH spuce if you are interested.

Good luck with this project!

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Black Hills spruce info

According to the University of Guelph...

tj

Here is a link that might be useful: Salt tolerance

DIVERSITY RULES...

plant some of each .. in a pattern that pleases you ...

NEVER.... EVER .. plant all of one kind

ken

Thank you all so much, I'm thrilled to have discovered this forum. I'm in Connecticut, zone 6. Now armed with the information that you've given me, it feels less guess work and I kind of know what I'm doing when making decisions. Thanks again ...

tsugajunkie:

Thanks for the link--we have had one or two discussions in this forum about salt spray tolerance, and you have found the answer. I would have thought that white spruce would have had some tolerance because other spruces do, but WRONG!

I need to learn, and I have had the opportunity to do many times, not to make any conclusions about trees based on simple generalizations. I need to stick to what I specifically have observed, or know to be from a reliable source (not always easy to determine).

Anyway, I have observed Norway spruce's tolerance for salt spray, and seen eastern white pine's susceptibility.

So, egrety, if you want spruces, you have Norway and Colorado, and maybe best the blue Colorado strains (maybe the waxy coating adds to the tolerance). And, I agree with +oM that blue spruce is not that slow growing. If you have good soil, I think about 18" per year is probable.

--Spruce

My experience suggests that Norway Spruce has upwardly lifted branch tips which become more apparent as the tree matures. As someone mentioned there is a lot of variation and maybe some NS dont curl as much. As I have posted before I have planted a bunch of NS mostly as nurseries around S CT seem to have a lot of NS and no WS.

I also very much like the Black Hills Spruce which I dont think has the curling attribute. I believe BHS is deerproof also. White Spruce I think has a more conventional presentation which when the trees are large I happen to prefer to NS.

BTW I found that for little conifers the deer eat the new growth (typically the leaders!) even on types that are supposedly deer resistant. They just like the juicy lush new candles. Once the tree has grown a bit out of browsing range my "deer-proof" trees have been just that. For small trees I protect the leaders until they harden with a bit of bird netting!