No. If a problem at all, it'll be a very small one - spruce sprouts are easy to recognize and pull. I have lots of spruce of various types and get an occasional vigorous volunteer - which I usually pot up until it can be added to my conifer grove. Free trees for a big yard is a good thing.

I have run both spruce and pine cones through my shredder and used them in the garden beds as mulch and put them into the compost bin and have not seen any new trees sprouting from those seed pods, and I seldom see any new trees sprouting even where the tons of these cones fall and do not get picked up. I do know that does happend because I have, on occassion, transplanted pine, and spruce, seedlings, but that mostly has been in areas with lots of needles covering the ground. It may be that these seed pods need that kind of environment for the seeds to germinate.

Thank you both! I will go ahead and use this pretty mulch!