How to Grow Blue Spruce Seeds

Collect still-closed blue spruce pine cones from the blue spruce's branches in early September.

Put the pine cones in a paper bag. Seal the bag and leave it on a window sill for roughly one month.

Shake the bag vigorously. Open the bag and collect the seeds that have been released from the cone. If the cone has not yet opened, close the bag and check again in another month.

Place the seeds in the freezer bag. Store the bag in the freezer until the first of April.

Remove the seeds and soak them in water for 24 hours.

Wrap the seeds in a moistened paper towel. Place the towel and seeds back into the plastic bag. Store the plastic bag in the refrigerator for six weeks.

Fill a 2-gallon container to within 2 inches of its rim with moistened seed-starting soil. Place a seed in the center of the soil. Cover it with 1/4 inch of course sand. Moisten the sand with water sprayed from a hand sprayer. Cover the top of the pot with plastic wrap to seal in the pot's moisture.

Place the pot in indirect sunlight until the seed germinates. Monitor the pot's moisture level while you wait. If the soil begins to look dry or there is no condensation on the underside of the plastic wrap, moisten it with water from your spray bottle.

Remove the plastic wrap once the seed germinates. Move the pot to a window where it will receive direct sunlight. Water with a watering can whenever the soil (not the sand) feels dry to the touch. Check twice a day.

Fertilize the blue spruce seedling with a liquid 20-20-20 fertilizer twice weekly once the seedling reaches 1 inch in height. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for application rates and amounts. Always water after each fertilizer application. Stop applying fertilizer in mid July.

Harden off the seedling. Bring it outside in direct sunlight for two hours each day for three to four days. Then increase the amount that it is left outside incrementally until it spends a full day outside.

Transplant the blue spruce seedling outside. Dig a hole just as deep but twice as wide as the container. Then plant the seedling at the same depth that it grew in the pot. Water the soil thoroughly after you plant so that it is moist to the depth of the spruce's roots.