Sweet gum

[RichS]

Hello nuts. Anyone got any experience with collecting sweet gum? I found 2 of them and wanted to try my hand at collecting something other than BC. So I did a chop on these guys to the lowest branch and figured I'd get yalls take on when and how to safely collect these. And embarrassingly enough when I was checking them out before I chopped them I did look at the base but apparently not enough because I've just discovered that the base under the soil goes a little wiggly. Let me know what yall think

 

[rockm]

Wrong time of year. I know Zach Smith of Bonsai South has been collecting sweet gum for decades. He says that once buds open the species is virtually impossible to get out of the ground alive. He says they are easy to collect, however, prior to bud break.

I can say I've only had the "impossible" side of things happen to me, as I tried a couple of times with no success.

 

[RichS]

Well im hoping that the chop wont hurt them and that I can hopefully collect next year. Just hope I didn't bite off more than I can chew here. I didn't realize it twisted like this under the soil. I should've checked better.

 

[rockm]

Bad idea to chop and leave in the ground. Can wind up killing the tree. Been there done that. Keep your fingers crossed.

 

[Vin]

I have one I've been grooming for collection for three years. It started out about fifteen feet tall and the trunk is about five or six inches at the base. First year I chopped it to about a foot above the ground. By the end of the year a new trunk formed from a branch that grew about ten plus feet. I just let it go last year because I changed my mind and wasn't going to collect it. This year I decided to chop it back some more and see if it's worth collecting next year. Both chops were done in February and if collected it will be in February as well. Unlike @rockm mine exhibited extremely vigorous growth after the chops.

 

[Vin]

Not the greatest picture but you can see all the new growth.

 

[VAFisher]

I think Zach actually recommends collecting them in the summer now.

I tried a big one last year in the summer. I was thinning an area behind my benches to let some more sun in. It was either getting chopped down or dug up. So I decided to try it based on Zach's summer collection recommendation. It pushed some growth but eventually petered out. I'm sure it was due to bad collecting technique. I've got a couple smaller ones growing out in pond baskets right now.

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Wrong time of year. I know Zach Smith of Bonsai South has been collecting sweet gum for decades. He says that once buds open the species is virtually impossible to get out of the ground alive. He says they are easy to collect, however, prior to bud break.

I can say I've only had the "impossible" side of things happen to me, as I tried a couple of times with no success.

I believe you may be confusing his advice with a different species, I know he suggests hornbeam in winter. Last reading he suggests sweetgum in late spring, end of May or early June.

 

[RichS]

Thst was what I had read. Late spring for sweet gum. I'm in Florida and stuff grows crazy fast here. Especially when the rains come. My real concern now is tht bendy base. I mean it just keeps goin. On both of them. I'm hoping I can use it in the design. But I fear ill have to eventually chop it back even more. Guess I'll let them alone for now. They're both growing beside a big lake so they should get enough to drink lol

 

[RichS]

I now suspect that I can't really considered that a "base" on these guys. It's like just more trunk. Alot more.