# Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis)

> Sitka spruce, Picea sitchensis: a large tree of 40 to 90 feet where planted, for zones 6 to 9, how fast it grows, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/sitka-spruce/

![Looking up the massive trunk of a giant Sitka spruce to its moss-hung branches spreading against a bright sky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/sitka-spruce-1000.jpg?v=520b2b66 "A giant Sitka spruce at Harris Creek, British Columbia, in July 2016. Sitka spruce may live to 800 years.")
*Photo: Vankathryn, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASitka_Spruce_at_Harris_Creek_BC.jpg))*

Large tree, 40 to 90 feet where planted, zones 6 to 9; full sun, part shade or shade; average or wet ground.

We do not grow Sitka spruce, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Sitka Spruce |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Tideland spruce, coast spruce, western spruce, Menzies spruce |
| Form | Large tree |
| Height, feet | 40 to 90 where planted; up to 329 in its native stands |
| Spread, feet | Up to 40 |
| Zones | 6 to 9 |
| Sun | Full sun, part shade or shade |
| Soil moisture | Average or wet ground |
| Growth | Medium |
| Leaves | Evergreen |
| Traits | Wildlife value, salt tolerant |
| Pollen | April to June |
| Fruit | Cones, August to October |
| First crop | 15 to 40 years (stands from 20 to 40) |
| Pollination | One bears; a second improves the crop. Each tree carries both male and female cones and the wind carries the pollen; in spruces, seed from a tree's own pollen is more often empty, so trees in a group set more good seed. |
| Lifespan | Can live 800 years, and the oldest dated one reached 593. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been ring-counted or cross-dated. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | The coast, stream banks, floodplain forests and sandy barrens |
| Native in | 4 states |

Sitka spruce is native in 4 states: [Alaska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AK), [California](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA), [Oregon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR) and [Washington](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WA). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=sitka-spruce): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=sitka-spruce): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=sitka-spruce&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=sitka-spruce): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=sitka-spruce): the planting-window tool
- [When it sheds pollen and bears cones, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=sitka-spruce): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=sitka-spruce): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=sitka-spruce:2): the pollination planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=sitka-spruce): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=sitka-spruce): the tree age calculator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=sitka-spruce): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Peachleaf Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/peachleaf-willow/index.html.md) (*Salix amygdaloides*): medium tree, 35 to 60 feet, zones 2 to 8. Shares stream banks and floodplain forests in the wild.
- [Tamarack](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/tamarack/index.html.md) (*Larix laricina*): large tree, 50 to 75 feet, zones 2 to 6. Shares stream banks in the wild.
- [American Plum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-plum/index.html.md) (*Prunus americana*): small tree, 15 to 25 feet, zones 3 to 8. Shares stream banks in the wild.
- [Chokecherry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chokecherry/index.html.md) (*Prunus virginiana*): small tree, 20 to 30 feet, zones 2 to 10. Shares stream banks in the wild.
- [Every companion of Sitka spruce in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=sitka-spruce)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, NC State Extension, the Morton Arboretum, Oregon State University's Landscape Plants, Cal Poly's SelecTree, Calscape, the Wildflower Center and the Gymnosperm Database.