Sweet! Gum

[theta]

Ah yeah, I gotcha. My kids call them monkey balls and throw them at each other. Haha.

 

[coachspinks]

This:

They are messy, and in the fall, it’s like walking across a bucket full of spilled spiked marbles. I think it cost me $1000 to have one cut down and hoisted over the house from the back corner of the lot to the street. Worth every penny. I still have probably a cubic yard of sweet gum balls laying in that corner, 2 years later, and more seedlings still sprouting!

Even though I wouldn't mind having one as a bonsai, I despise sweetgum trees. They have something to drop every season of the year - leaves, balls, limbs and the remains of their seed pods. I have cut down a couple of dozen over my lifetime and have yet to find one of any size who didn't have a sizable portion of their inside rotted out.

 

[coh]

I wouldn't want one anywhere near my house or if I had a relatively small lot and had to clean up the mess. But somewhere out in the back where the tree can do its thing and I can just
enjoy the view (especially that fall color) - sign me up! Which reminds me, I really should plant one or two out in our back field...

 

[atlarsenal]

not so nice when you step on one of the sticky balls barefoot

I did that first thing this morning stepping out of bed.

 

[Hack Yeah!]

I did that first thing this morning stepping out of bed.

Taking advantage of the warm night, little camp out?

 

[atlarsenal]

No, just a regular Monday.

 

[coachspinks]

No, just a regular Monday.

So, I'll go ahead and ask, why do you have a sweetgum ball in your bedroom?

 

[Japonicus]

Love the irony...For the young here. Back in the day (70's, 80's) Coors WAS THE craft beer if you lived east of the Mississippi. Getting it on the east coast was damn near impossible and illegal since they didn't pay the liquor tax. Guess how much a case of bootlegged Coors cost us inbred Appalachian redneck ridgerunners? Let's just say a gallon of shine was a lot less... They made a movie about all of this--Burt and Jerry Lee weren't lying.

Bit late, but I remember. Wasn't drinking age but my brother was then in the early 70's. Snagging Coho at Shadow Mt Reservoir was super cool. Still love Colorado May retire to there...
Another quirk not available E of the Mississippi back then was Balls of Fire Salmon eggs for bait. Trout LOVE'em!

 

[atlarsenal]

So, I'll go ahead and ask, why do you have a sweetgum ball in your bedroom?

Oh y’all were talking about sweetgum balls.

 

[coachspinks]

Oh y’all were talking about sweetgum balls.

 

[Carol 83]

I did that first thing this morning stepping out of bed.

Perhaps you need to see a Dr.

 

[VAFisher]

Fortunately or unfortunately they are everywhere on my property. Besides the fall color, the other cool feature is the smell of the leaves if you crush them up. Every time I prune a leaf on mine, I wad it up and enjoy the smell. Good times.

The balls suck though.

 

[VAFisher]

Oh y’all were talking about sweetgum balls.

I lol'd.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I did manage to take one prisoner...Depends on my patience, but the current plan is to develop it in a container for the next 20 years, since I have yet to collect one with a respectable trunk that survived.

 

[VAFisher]

I did manage to take one prisoner...Depends on my patience, but the current plan is to develop it in a container for the next 20 years, since I have yet to collect one with a respectable trunk that survived.
View attachment 236385

Same here.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Same here.

View attachment 236457

That will be fun to watch grow old.

 

[BonsaiNaga13]

I

Too bad it died. I have a nice old sweetgum in our backyard, I'm looking into the best way to try to air layer some branches off it. They have such a cool bark and branch texture.

Have a few young ones that grew up from a neighbors tree I wanna air layer. They're like 10 feet or more and grew between a metal fence and wood fence gap so I can't dig em but luckily they don't go to seed yet.

 

[Darth Masiah]

i wonder if i could airlayer at the base of this branch. movement and taper in the lower trunk would be nice. i really dont understand some peoples reasoning when i see them airlayering straight-as-arrow branches.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Since the OP tree died, and I’m not committing to mine yet, I’ll share the fall color photo here.

 

[Bonedigger kennels]

This is ours pretty much gifted from Hurley here in Houston. it has a few dead limbs and was in rough shape. Seems to be doing much better. Hopefully we can keep it going and healthy in the future.