Not an indoor plant. And Picea pungens need all the sun they can get, even outdoors and I believe they need a cool period in order sprout new buds in spring.

You will have to define ,"She's been watering it every chance she gets as the soil's almost always dry when checked on".

How much water, what is dry, does she lift the pot to see how heavy it is? Even if she isn't doing anything different, the damage done to conifers can take weeks or months to show up as needle loss.

My guess is too much water and not enough light.

tj

what a nightmare.. lol ...

first... she bought it in dormancy ... its coming out of dormancy ... due to being too hot indoors .... it thinks its spring.. and it aint in my z5 ....

fresh new growth is usually limp like that ... that doesnt bother me... but if she is hyper watering.. thinking its drooping because it needs more water.. she will rot the roots off .... trees like it pretty dry ... a drink and near drying before another sip ...

also.. indoors.. in winter.. in z5.. there can be sever humidity issues ... due to forced air furnaces.. and such ... running 24/7 ....

but they are full sun plants.. and it really doesnt matter how often she turns it.. or anything else she does.. it will never get the light it needs unless she puts it under lights.. and that still isnt going to work for long .. as the lights would need to be a few inches from the plant ... and that is hard to do with a tall plant like this ...

i hope she isnt fertilizing it.. that wont help either ...

right after xmas.. it should have gone out in a garage.. to maintain dormancy ... too late for that..

and she just might save it.. if she can harden it off properly.. and get it in mother earth this spring... in my z5.. that would be around late april or so.. after a few weeks in the garage to harden it off to outside temps.. and then to harden it off to sun .. and of course.. she has no where to do that in an apartment....

we get these problems after every xmas.... the plants are sold cheap.. as disposable xmas trees... and the uninitiated.. struggle to understand that they arent houseplants ... there were things that might have helped a month ago or so.. it may be too late.. but whatever happens.. she will learn some things.. and maybe do it right next time...

ken

ps: the fiber pot isnt helping indoors either.. its wicking water from the media... again.. probably due to the heating/humidity issue mentioned above ... and.. i bet its in horrible media... if not sand ...