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Blue Spruce Close to the House


Question
We live in north-central NM about 10 miles from the CO border in a newly purchased house. There are precious few trees growing on the property, among them 3 young, healthy-looking blue spruce.They grew about 1.5 ft last year. One of them is planted quite close to the house.(See photo)

This tree is about 6'8" tall and the trunk, about 1.5 in. diameter at this point sits 6.5 ft. from the side of the house.

My question would be whether eventually the roots or branches will interfere with either the slab foundation of the house or the stucco of the siding? What measure could be taken, if any to deal with the situation?

Answer
No there will be NO problem with the roots from the blue spruce. At maturity the tree will have a spread of about 15-20 feet and the roots will spread out  about the same BUT unless there is a break in the foundation or the tree is right on top of a septic line the roots will not cause any problem. They have a tap root going straight down and feeder roots out from the trunk in the first 2 feet of soil. These feeder roots will cause no problem and I would think since  this tree is a slow grower it will be a long time before the tree reaches mature size. Since the tree is close to the house you may have to prune the branches toward the house  as they will rub the side of the house as it gets older. This pruning will keep it small also.

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