Norway Spruce - All Rounder Coniferous Tree



Posted: Thursday, October 15, 2009

by Dennis Sons
tn nursery

Picea abies or commonly known as Norway spruce is an evergreen tree that grows into a beautiful pyramid. It is also available from a nursery in the small personal plant and in weeping forms, mainly used for architectural and accent elements in the landscape. Norway spruce is a large coniferous tree that grows at 35-55m tall and spreads around 1-1.5m. The leaves of the tree are needle like and are about 12-24m long. The cones of the tree are usually in green or reddish maturing brown in color and of 9-17cm long. These cones mature after 5-7 months of pollination.

The plant grows straight and develops a very thick trunk of about 4ft. The branches droop towards the ground that makes a way to form a beautiful pyramid. You can find the branches as long as 12 inches towards the base in the adult trees. The roots of Norway spruce are very shallow and usually dense. The trees bear flowers that are pink in color and inconspicuous. The fruits of the tree are oval; around 3 to 6 inches long and brown in color. The fruits do not attract wild life or do not litter around. They are persistent to the tree and are showy. Since the branches droop, the tree will require pruning or pedestrian clearance. Norway spruce grows in full sun and is tolerant to clay, loam, and sand, slightly alkaline, acidic, occasionally wet, and well-drained soils. They are resistant to moderate drought conditions. The plant do not change color or have a leave fall during the winters. Norway spruce is best in lawn area or in wind area. The different cultivars of the plant are Clanbrasiliana, Columnaris, Echiniformis, Gregoryana, Humulis, Inversa and many more that are first grow in nursery and then shifted on to the ground.

The tree is very sensitive to pests and diseases. Mites are the worst problem of the plant especially during the summers. If they infect the plant, the first visible symptom would be turning yellow at the base of the oldest needles. Mites are not visible with naked eye, and hence a close inspection of this condition of the plant with a magnifying glass will reveal that it is the attack of mites. Apart from the pests, the plant might also face diseases like Cytospora canker, which affects the branch and kills it eventually. It starts with the lower branches and slowly to the entire plant. The symptoms are that the needles turn from brown to reddish brown and white resin patches are visible on the infected branches. Apart from this, spruce might also affect the plant, which will cause the needles to turn yellow and drop off. Hence, taking proper care of the plant is must in order to avoid spruce might, as the plant is useful in many ways. The use of the plant in made in forestry for timber, paper production, and as an ornamental plant in gardens and parks. Apart from these, it is also widely used as a Christmas tree .

This Article has been viewed 17 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.