Request: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
Archived on 07/28/2009
How can I keep a Sweet Gum tree from making seed balls? I have five or six around my yard and pick up 10 to 15 wheelbarrow loads each spring. Tom from Winston Salem, NC
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RE: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
Place them in any size jar and sell as Porcupine Eggs or give them as gifts. For Christmas decorations, spray gold or silver then roll in glitter. Or, leave natural and let the kids come up their own ideas/designs. Sell them to the flu vaccine manufacturers. Who knows what they sell for. (10/10/2006)
By TexyLady
RE: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
I have come up with one use for the "porcupine balls" as I call them. I put them in the bottom of my potted plants (annuals) instead of rocks, for drainage. At the end of the season, I just dump the whole thing in the compost pile and don't have to dig out the rocks. I have also heard of making table top Christmas trees out of them, but haven't tried it myself. (07/09/2007)
By Lesa from IN
RE: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
CONTROL OF GUMBALLS
By Bozidar Djordjevic, Ph.D.
As an alumnus of Rutgers University (Ph.D., in Microbiology, l960) and presently residing in Westfield, NJ, I encountered a situation which could be of considerable interest to the New Jersey agriculture in general and Rutgers University in particular.
I have a patentable proposal that is realistic and rewarding. It deals with a common problem in suburban horticulture: that some of the most popular decorative trees become with time a bothersome nuisance. Such is the case with the so called gumball trees, which produce fruiting bodies lasting over a good portion of the vegetation season. Not only are these bodies long lasting (do not readily decay), but also do not fall to the ground at the same time rendering collection time consuming and damaging to lawns. In addition, these ping-pong sized bodies (gumballs) are an actual physical hazard, when stepped onto them.
There is a period during gumball formation which is particularly sensitive to outside interference. We have established that the simple expedient of inserting a copper nail (or a piece of copper tubing with an ordinary nail) before the actual start of vegetation suffices to achieve the desired inhibitory effect on gumball formation. To assure prevention of lasting damage to the tree, copper inserts should be removed at the time of gumball maturation in control (untreated) trees.
Our experience is limited to one vegetation season, but the procedure seems to be working nevertheless. Whether the copper treatment should be repeated, and whether the combination of copper tubing with steel nails is truly beneficial, remains to be determined. It is our opinion therefore, that we should proceed with the provisional patenting procedure.
(10/24/2007)
By Bozidar Djordjevic, Westfield, NJ
RE: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
My advice is not how to stop sweet gum balls from falling, but to warn you that pets, especially puppies love to play with them when they are dried. My puppy swallowed one and I've spent the last 10 days thinking she had a virus only to find out that wasn't the case. I am hopeful that the LSU vets can do an endoscopy and remove it to prevent surgery. Very expensive lesson. Animal lovers beware. (03/13/2008)
By Baton Rouge
RE: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
I previously was the Director at a pre-school. Unfortunately the play yard had a sweet gum tree and the nasty little seed balls were not acceptable in that type of yard. There is a fruit inhibitor which can be sprayed on the tree in early spring just before the tree blossoms. However if the tree is very large, as ours was, it can be very costly. Several hundred dollars each spring. (03/31/2008)
By Kathryn
RE: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
I have 2 gum trees and I too have many gum balls. What I did last year was rake up the balls around the tree and use it as a sort of mulch. I also have planted iris's around the tree so the gum ball help keep my dogs away from the iris's. I hope this may help some one. May be you can bag them up and sell as mulch cause they don't wash away like commercial mulch does. Maybe I will do that myself and make some money. The supply is always plentiful. (07/19/2008)
By Donna
RE: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
Reading through all these postings, I didn't see anyone mention the feature of this tree that I enjoy the most - crush some leaves in your hand and they produce a smell like turpentine. I don't like gathering up the thousands of "spiny balls" either, but I do enjoy the shade provided by the one tree we have in our front yard.
Hey, I haven't gotten the flu in several years. Maybe inhaling the "fumes" from the crushed leaves has something to do with it? Caution: some folks (such as my wife) may experience negative effects from this practice, but I really enjoy it. (07/22/2008)
By Saul H. from Gahanna, OH
RE: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
My 9 year experience with a twenty year old sweet gum tree is: 1) the spikey balls are good for nothing, except building muscles raking the never ending supply, 2) it will raise the floor of your garage an 1 1/2" in the course of a couple of months and evidently crack it, 3) the branches, at any age, will easily snap in a wind storm - and aim for your roof, 4) the wood burns well, but only after it dries for three years, AND, 5) unless you dig all the roots out once you've fallen the tree and dug out the stump, you will continue to have sweet gum starts all over your world for years. Good luck.
(08/02/2008)
By guest
RE: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
People. The previous homeowner of our house grew the "seedless" variety. Yes, they exist. No seed balls at all. It's a beautiful tree and serves a purpose. Scientists just discovered the flesh of the seed balls treats bird flu. This tree needs moist soil. Make sure the soil stays at least slightly moist at all times.
(08/12/2008)
By Mark from VA
SAVED OUR LIVES: Sweetgum Tree
We hated the tree; the previous owner planted it. We couldn't walk barefoot in our back yard without raking first. We lived in Newport News, VA and when hurricane Andrew hit, our city along with others were out of electricity from more then two weeks. Everyone began to run out of charcoal, propane, lighter fluid, etc. Without lighter fluid, it took awhile for the coals to start. (We used old cooking oil).
My Mother from Michigan suggested that we "use the sweetgum seeds to start the fire". She was right, the fire started quickly and burned for a very long time. They burned longer then the charcoal. When we ran out of charcoal and began using wood, the results were even better. What was once an irritant became a life saver. My husband and I went on a scavenger hunt trying to unearth as many as possible, we dug up as many as we could. One day when our supply was getting low, we remembered that we had bags of leaves that weren't collected yet. We were so happy. You would have thought that we struck gold. For two weeks, we had a strong roaring fire. And the popping and the crackling of the sweetgum tree seeds in the fire sounded like music to our ears.
When the people around us could no longer keep meat and dairy, we could. We filled our deep freezer with gallon jars of water (long before the hurricane). It kept our freezer ice cold and our meat and milk safe to consume. (Another tip we got from my Mom in Michigan (Maxine)). Thank You Mom. (09/02/2008)
By Tab
RE: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
For all you that don't like sweet gum trees, get some goats, mine have cleaned up every tree they could munch on and none come back because the goats eat as soon as anything on them sprouts. No problem here. (09/22/2008)
By Intha
RE: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
To Reedlog AT: We dug out the stump and the roots out away from the tree for 4 to 5 feet. For three years now, we have had babies all over the lawn. We have tried Round-up, stump killer, lye, all to no avail. The roots seem to sprout up when they have the combination of water and light, I think light being the key.
We finally had to dig the roots out to where they tapered down to just an inch or so and be sure to leave nothing exposed to light. No babies for about six months now, but will have to replant the lawn next spring because of all the digging. (10/14/2008)
By Janet
RE: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
If you have gum trees around your property and are able to cut them, you need to do it as soon as possible. I live in South Carolina and they are getting worse and worse every year. If we ever have a world-wide nuclear war, there will be only two living things left; a cockroach and a gum tree.
Everything everyone said bad here about these trees is absolutely true. They are taking over but must band together and continue the fight for future generations. (11/18/2008)
By Greg
RE: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
We have 2 Sweet Gum Ball trees, and we have found that the sticky balls burn well in our "backyard fire pit" (we bought ours at Lowe's, they have several models). And surprisingly, the sticky balls have a pleasant odor when burned.
(04/17/2009)
By Ddaisy Jane
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Request: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
Archived on 10/08/2006
Q: I have a huge 100-year-old sweet gum tree in my side yard and it endows us with sweet gum balls all year. Is there a way to keep these balls from forming? I was told from a friend that there is a way to make this tree sterile and not form these balls. I called our local agricultural extension but they've never gotten back to me on their answer. If you could get this answer for me I would be most appreciative.
Thanks,
Pam from Georgetown, SC
A: How lucky you are to have a 100 year-old tree in your yard! There are a couple of recently introduced products that provide chemical control for sweet gumballs. One is called Florel Fruit Eliminator, which is sprayed on the flowers to prevent them from fruiting. The disadvantage of using a spray product is that the chemicals can drift over to healthy trees and plants (in your yard and in your neighbor's yard) and eventually make their way to your local waterways. Application of this product also has a limited timeframe (1 week) and it can be difficult to spray the tops of large trees.
The other product, Snipper, is also a de-flowering agent, which is applied via trunk injection. Both treatments are best done by a professional arborist and should not be performed on trees that are under stress from drought or disease. Each treatment may cost from $200-$300 and may need to be repeated annually to be effective. Since your tree is located in a side yard, your best bet might be to get yourself a good rake or try to live with it. Also, I'm never an advocate of using chemicals. Perhaps readers on this site could suggest some creative uses for your excess gumballs. If you ever lose this tree or take it down, there are now "gumball-less" cultivars available.
Ellen
Answers:
RE: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
Keep the tree producing the balls!
"Sweetgum tree could help lessen shortage of bird flu drug
ATLANTA, March 29 - The sweetgum tree grows widely throughout the country and is known for its mace-like green fruit, which are sometimes called "gumballs." Now, this spiny fruit may become an important source of a chemical needed to make a lifesaving drug against bird flu - a drug that is currently in short supply worldwide, researchers say.
Chemists have found that the seeds of the sweetgum fruit contain significant amounts of shikimic acid, the starting material used to produce the main antiviral agent in a much-heralded drug for fighting bird flu. Their findings, which could help increase the global supply of the drug, were described today at the 231st national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.
Shikimic acid is used to make a generic drug called oseltamivir - best known commercially as Tamiflu® - which is used to fight many types of flu viruses. Some health experts believe that this and similar antiviral drugs could help save lives by slowing the spread of the virus in the absence of a bird flu vaccine, which is still in development.
The drug, which blocks the replication of the flu virus, is being stockpiled worldwide to slow or stop a possible bird flu pandemic that some experts predict could kill millions - if the virus mutates into a form that can spread from person to person. The virus, a strain known as H5N1, primarily afflicts birds at present but has been known to kill a small but growing number of humans who have had close contact with infected birds.
There is a skyrocketing demand for Tamiflu, but some experts fear there won't be enough of the drug to treat everyone if a worldwide pandemic occurs. The supply problem resides in the drug's source: The shikimic acid used to make it is obtained almost exclusively from the Chinese star anise, a fruit that is found mainly in China and whose supply has dwindled due to high demand for the flu drug. Although shikimic acid is found in many plants, star anise has been considered the most abundant plant source, until now.
"Our work gives the hearty sweetgum tree another purpose, one that may help to alleviate the worldwide shortage of shikimic acid," says study leader Thomas Poon, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry from the W.M. Keck Science Center at The Claremont Colleges in Claremont, Calif. "They have lots of potential for fighting bird flu."
The sweetgum tree grows widely throughout the United States and other parts of the world. In this country, it is particularly common in the South, including the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama, but also can be found as far west as Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma and northward in parts of Illinois.
Although shikimic acid is found in the leaves and bark of the tree, it is most abundant in the fruit, Poon says. In the mature tree, the fruit emerges as a green seedpod that later dries into a brown, spiny husk, which releases an abundance of tiny, grain-like seeds. To optimize shikimic acid extraction, the gumballs need to be harvested when they are still green and before the seeds have been dispersed, Poon says. Each tree can hold hundreds, if not thousands, of seedpods.
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Editor's Note: I tried to find the source of this article. There are many links online to this report. You might be able to collect up these seed pods and sell them to someone. Also, it might be possible to find a way to concoct an herbal remedy with sweet gum or star anise. (04/09/2006)
By John from Florida
RE: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
Hi! We have two Sweet Gum trees in our yard and are also inundated with the "gumballs". We had a lawncare person inject Snipper into the trees last year to do what you described. Unfortunately it didn't work. It is very time specific and maybe it wasn't done at the right time. It was quite expensive at almost $150 a tree. We were very disappointed and are trying to get our money back now. (04/12/2006)
By Yvette
RE: Sweet Gum Tree Advice
I was interested in the story about the gum tree as I have one in my front yard. The people who planted it should be jailed. It's a beautiful tree, but what a mess. There are a few different products for gum trees to stop seeds. One is Deer and Rabbit repellent. If the person contacts their local garden center, they might be able to find this product or a similar one.
Nancy Holmes
(05/16/2006)
By Virginia
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