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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
By guest
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
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
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
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
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
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 Daisy Jane
Add your voice! Click below to comment. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
I really enjoyed reading about sweet gumball. Thank goodness I have a grandson who can help me with them. I am going to use some of the ideas on using them for crafts. Read them all as each offers different ideas.
Add your voice! Click below to comment. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
