Propagation
Sow fresh seed when ripe in containers and place in a cold frame or sow in a prepared bed. Seeds may require some stratification. 

Take cultivar cuttings from the new growth and prostrate species are grafted on to 2 year old understock.

Young trees up to 2 m (6 ft) tall may be transplanted easily due to their shallow spreading root systems.

Picea abies timber is used in construction or as paper pulp. Turpentine is extracted from the tree and the bark is used in tanning.

Botanic information
Leaf: The needle-like curved acicular leaves have a sharp point at the apex, shining green with 2 to 3 stomatic bands on both sides. The leaves last for 3 or 4 years and are borne on wooden pegs that persist after needles have fallen.

Flower: The female cones are upright at first then bends down becoming pendent and are bright red. The brownish male catkin-like pollen cones appear at the shoot tips and are up to 15mm (⅝in) long, becoming yellow when dispersing pollen during spring.

Fruit: The cones are large with flat stiff scales, green to shinny brown. They are pendant, persisting on the tree throughout winter and falling before releasing the seeds.