Steve,

If the buds remain plump and viable, they should open in the spring
regardless of whether the rest of the needles on the twig are there or not.
I have a couple of small blue spruces that I have fiddled with for the last
few years. One year they were attacked by (I think) spider mites. They
lost most of their needles late in the year and over winter, and I pulled
the rest off early in the spring, but the buds remained good, and they
budded out and grew fine in the spring.

Regards,
Roger Snipes Spokane, WA Zone 5, or maybe Zone 6.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it,
and then misapplying the wrong remedies. Groucho Marx (1895-1977)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Parr"

I have a Colorado Blue Spruce (Picea pungens) that was styled earlier this
year
and it is still in the nursery can it came in. It has already set new buds
for
next year, very prolifically I might add.
The needles on several of the existing shoots have died back, but the new
buds
are still very plump. There were so many in a few spots that I pinched
them
off, they were bright green inside.

Is there a chance that the remaining buds will open, even if the needles
on
that shoot have died?



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