Spider mite.

Another opinion:

Short of water in original rootball.

To verify, stick our finger in it.

Dwarf Alberta Spruce is to spider mites as giant junkyard electromagnet is to iron filings.

All that said, that sure doesn't present like any spider mite I've ever seen. So localized....no impact over the overall plant...too localized. That's just not what I thought of when I first opened this pic.

I'd guess it's just one of those mysterious transplanting anomalies that we never really know the cause of. In any case, this is really much ado about close to nothing. The plant will re-leader easily. And as Ken said way up yonder, this dwarf conifer is not one of the types where single central leader has much meaning.

BTW, funny story about one of these plants: One of my son's large back yard opens up to an area of floodplain forest with a stream running through. His whole place is just chock-full of wildlife. I've never seen so many snapping turtles, garter snakes, and every other critter that abides in this region. Well, they have one of those goofy Albertas up by their patio. None of us are fond of the plant. It doesn't fit in with any of the other looser, less formal landscaping. But, it shall remain in place! We're all nature lovers and that silly little tree is absolutely home-central for snakes! You can watch them poke their heads out of the needles as the sun warms them up in the mornings, wrapped around the branches of this little thing. There does not seem to ever be a time when garter snakes are not in that plant. And as their home is right in the center of the range of a rare sub-type of that animal-no I haven't ID'd them-it could be they have the rarer type there..

Anyway, observation will lead us to leave this plant be, even though taste would have it gone.

+oM

I think every spider mite infestation I've seen on this type of plant, at least in the early stages, presents itself in localized spots. If you look up "Albert Spruce Spider Mites" on Google Images, the majority show plants with localized spots. Every Google Images picture that I noticed, that showed less than an advanced stage of the problem, showed localized areas.

Is this case spider mites? I have no idea. Guess it's a 50/50 shot. An onsite look could confirm, rule it out, or at least give a good idea. BUT, it's definitely a good thing to realize that Albert Spruces very very commonly suffer from spider mites.

Thanks everyone. I sprayed Bayer Advanced Insect Disease and Mite control, hopefully it will stop the damage from spreading and that will be the end of it.

I just read about this as I have the same thing happening to both of mine. It said your tree is telling you it's either too wet or too dry. In my case I know it's too dry so I will go out and water it now! I did carefully clip off the brown/dead bit and will give them gentle, regular waterings. Also, paying close attention to giving them enough water in the Fall so they don't dry out in Winter, without over watering them.

Looks like a case of spruce tip weevil damage. A strong insecticide should help. Just make sure it’s labeled for weevil, or white pine weevil.