When should a norway spruce be pruned?
Limit it to removing dead, broken, or crossing limbs — the sweeping pendulous side branches are the entire character of the tree, and because spruce sets no buds on old bare wood, cutting them back leaves permanent holes. Late winter is the window, and the specific trap is limbing it up to reclaim lawn: that exposes the trunk and destroys the low skirt that made it a screen in the first place.
Reading norway spruce before you cut
Two patterns matter here: small branch tips browning and dying back inward, which Purdue has been seeing more of in submitted samples, and Cytospora canker, which is the real killer of 10-20 year old trees. Cytospora is diagnosable on site — the lowest branches die first and it climbs, with white to bluish resin crusted on the bark at the canker; a tree that is merely thin and off-color with no resin bleeding is stressed, one with dead lower whorls and resin streaks is being dismantled limb by limb.
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