This article addresses the problem of the survival of Picea abies ((L.)H. Karst) crops at various landing techniques. For plants, the survival stage is the most difficult, since during this period they adapt to new growing environment, new soil conditions and microclimate. These factors influence the growth processes of plants (Merzlenko, Babich, 2002) .Saplings with a closed root system (CRS) have several advantages. For example, the seedling root is exposed to the least impact during transportation and planting, as it is protected by peat from a cassette. In addition, the cost of buying the material is reduced, as they are planted at a distance of 1.5-2 m, less often than an culture with opened root system - ORS (Danchenko, Kabanova et al., 2018) .In this work, CRS and ORS-cultures were compared in contrasting conditions: under the canopy of partially preserved sparse aspen forest and in open space. The total quantity of seedlings was 307 samples. The following characteristics were chosen as parameters for comparing Picea abies crops: total number of seedlings, the growth of seedlings over the past year and the number of opened buds in various conditions. For comparison of cultures by the indicated features, nonparametric criteria of the Statistica 10.0 software package were used.The results of the data analysis on the growth of seedlings demonstrate a more intensive growth of ORS-cultures (average annual growth of 28-60 mm) in comparison with CRS- cultures (20-48 mm). In addition, based on the ratio of the number of opened buds to the number of dried, it can be seen that the greatest safety of buds is characteristic for ORS- cultures (42 surviving buds per 1 dried) than for seedlings with CRS (16 surviving buds per 1 dried). It was revealed that the presence of the tree layer does not affect the quality of survival of spruce seedlings. In the absence of a canopy the best preservation was demonstrated by ORS-culture. Comparison of the number of surviving saplings to the number of the dead reveals a greater survival of the CRS-culture of Picea abies (8 per 1) in contrast to ORS- cultures (3 per 1). The high adaptive capacity of seedlings with ORS may be due to the favorable temperature and hydrological regime of the territory in the year of their planting.