Deal with those pesky sweet gum balls quickly and efficiently-- and without breaking your back. The gum balls or monkey balls are said to have several capsule-like structures, wood-like in appearance. reply to Sherry; C L Hogan 3 years ago. The male inflorescence consists of a raceme of clustered male flowers about 1-2½" long; this raceme is greenish yellow and ascending. Dangerous? Really? We had taken this image from the web that we consider would be one of the most representative photos … It has dark green, star-shaped leaves that turn colors—yellow, purple, and red—in late fall. I've come to hate the damned gum balls that fall from the trees into our yard each autumn. Gathering your sweet gum balls is made easy with the Bag-A-Nut Sweet Gum Ball machines. Sweet gum is a native shade tree that has glossy green leaves with five lobes, similar to a sugar maple. You can also call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at 888-426-4435. They begin as pale green, spikey balls in spring and ripen into brown, seed-laden fruits by late summer. Getting back to Ashley’s question, using injections on your sweetgum tree is tricky because the timing has to be just right. They're all still too young for the spikey balls but when those come I'll simple rake them up. A tree that is a candidate for the injection must have a trunk at least 2 inches in diameter, and the tree cannot have received a spray or soil treatment within two weeks. If you fear your dog has ingested the leaves of a poisonous tree, contact your veterinarian immediately. Individual male flowers are about 1/8" (3 mm.) If just getting rid of them to avoid stepping on their painful shell isn’t enough for you, you have tons of other options. Don't let the name of the tree fool you, Sweet Gum, there's nothing sweet about them. Subject: 5 tree species to avoid? The fruit opens up which releases the seeds, however, the spiked shells are left behind and are often considered a nuisance. Seed-filled, spiky-textured balls develop and drop in the fall, but not in great quantity. … With this tree no fruit is produced so no messy seed capsules to dispose. That’s the reason we are showing this content at this moment. It’s currently flu season, which means many people are hom One application of Snipper in early spring causes premature death of developing flowers but does not affect foliage. If that isn't enough, the spiny fruits have been known to cause people to slip and turn an ankle. How to Get a Sweetgum Tree to Stop Producing Balls. That handsome SOB with the chainsaw is me. The sweet gum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua), also known as a liquid amber tree, is a fast-growing shade tree. Flowers: Flower Color: Gold/Yellow Green We decided to cut down our 50' sweet gum because it kept putting it's balls in our yard. Cercospora is a fungal spot disease that produces dark brown, bordered, angular to circular spots 2 to 10 mm in … The capsules contain two tiny seeds (syncarp). Sweet gum fruits are spiky green balls that turn brown through winter and fall to the ground November through May. The situation is acerbated by the fact that sweetgum balls can make walking in the yard seem like crossing a mine field. As a matter of fact, I'd go so far as to say way, way, way too prolific. What are you supposed to do with the Sweet Gum balls once they’re off your property and in the Cyclone Nut Rake? Gum balls mature to dark brown and usually remain on the tree through the winter, but can create clean-up problems during the general period of December through April as the clusters fall to the ground. Jan 5 ... My NDs LOVE sweet gum branches. For the best chance of stopping the sweetgum balls, hire a certified arborist. Growing the Tree. Simply roll your picker upper over those spiky balls and watch them as they are "captured" in the basket. Habit: Fastigiate, or columnar, deciduous tree growing 35 to 50 feet tall and just 4 feet wide. If you only have a few trees, you might go with the Stab-A-Nut machine. It can be an excellent shade tree in the right location, away from foot traffic where the spiky "gumball" fruits will not be an annoyance. If you cut one down, about a dozen shoots will appear on what's left of the trunk trying to grow more little sweet gum trees. across, consisting of 4-8 fertile stamens that originate from a short disc. This rosin was scraped into buckets and carefully heated before being strained and bottled. Matthew Barlow, nursery manager at EarthworksJax shares the history and continuing legacy through suckering of a Sweet Gum tree at the nursery. Sweet Gum is monoecious, producing separate male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers on the same tree. Cercospora is the most common of the many diseases of a sweet gum tree, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The American sweetgum is a large shade tree with an ovular shape. It is theoretically possible to eliminate the balls each year but it is a difficult process. If your dog is a constant nibbler, then you should avoid planting trees poisonous to dogs or plan on keeping your dog away from these trees. Sugar gum tree toxic? People chew the gum (dried sap) of the sweet gum, so I wouldn't think it would harm them. I love sweet gum trees! So big and majestic, such welcome lovely shade in summer, such radiant long-lasting fall colors! They don't ever try to eat them & I usually pick them up & throw them out of the pen. A: The spiky seed pods of the sweetgum tree are a nuisance to many gardeners. The tree produces spiny green fruits about the size of a golf ball, which turn brown and drop off the tree over an extended period beginning in fall and continuing over the winter. The sweet gum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua) is a tall, straight tree which boasts a wide and rounded canopy when fully mature. The spiked shells can be painful to walk on and are commonly nicknamed burr balls or sticker balls. I've planted 4, 2 straight, 1 morraine, and 1 variegated. The Fruitless Sweetgum tree is a great solution for having to deal with those prickly Sweetgum balls each year. Before you write them off as just a nuisance, consider these simple ways to utilize the Sweet Gum Ball Tree and it’s falling “fruit”. Also, many sweet gum tree diseases only occur on weakened or wounded trees; practice appropriate maintenance. They are very difficult to control! The fruits persist through the winter and attract birds. LIQUIDAMBAR STYRACIFLUA GUM BALL– Sweet Gum Characteristics Often mistaken for a maple, the Sweet Gum has similarly-shaped five-lobed leaves. Find out about composting gumballs here. Snipper (Indole-3-butyric acid) Plant Growth Regulator, PGR A de-flowering agent for sweet gum trees that is used to eliminate young flowers before they fertilize to form gum balls. Hootenannyshollow, Jan 6, 2014. My parents used to live in East Texas where they had a lot of sweet gum trees and they never had any problems with the horses. If you’d like to grow your own sweet gum, first understand that it’s a commitment to a tree that many describe as a nuisance. Season: Year-round for shape. Use them in a fun craft project or use them as mulch. Sweet-gum is known for its unique star-shaped leaves with outstanding yellow, red, and purple fall color. Once the Sweet Gum Balls are off your property the possibilities are endless. The tree has a pyramid shape that becomes rounded as the tree matures. Furrowed bark lends winter interest. The tree is beautiful and offers lots of shade so I wouldn’t mind keeping it, but we absolutely detest the spiny little balls that are covering our back yard. So now you know two things: first, you can tell the difference between a This tree is often planted in parks where its height, ranging from 70-120 feet, and sprawling branches, spreading 40-50 feet, create shade for visitors. Young trees were tapped by wounding the bark as soon as the tree had completely leafed out. If your sweet gum is too tall to spray, or if you don't want to attempt spraying a small tree, you can stop fruit production by having a certified arborist administer a trunk injection. Jan 15, 2020 - Sweet Gum Tree Balls Poisonous – Did you know that Sweet Gum Tree Balls Poisonous is one of the most popular topics in this category? It’s Sweet Gum Ball time of year again and that means you may find yourself slipping on these prickly round seeds. Which unit you'll need depends on how many trees you have. CSU has a … I do have a tree near their pen & the balls do fall into the pen. Cercospora. American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), also known as American storax, hazel pine, bilsted, redgum, satin-walnut, star-leaved Most people want to know how to get rid of the tree, keep it from fruiting, or if you can compost sweetgum balls. Very little work for the benefits of the magnificent sweet gum tree! The sap emerges as a yellowish brown liquid that slowly hardens into a rosin in the presence of air. It has a corky bark and bears hard, spiked fruit. To empty, simply spread wires and the sweet gum balls are emptied into the trash (see our Large Nut Wizard Dumper for an inexpensive emptying tool that hooks on to a 5 gallon bucket). Then, the flowers drop, preventing the balls from ever forming. The golf ball-size sweetgum balls are the tree’s fruits. If an appropriate space is available, check out the cold-hardy cultivar, 'Moraine', which is recommended for northern Illinois. It can be found throughout most of the United States as a forest tree in the Southeast and an ornamental in gardens and cities. Bark develops deep furrows as the tree matures. There is quite a lot of good wrapped up in this amazing tree. Fall color can be quite dramatic, with a combination of yellows, reds, and purples. However, while the leaves on the maple are arranged in opposite pairs, those of the liquidambar appear alternately. I don't know about the spikey balls though. Sweet Gum Firewood Use. The prickly fruits are called gumballs, goblin balls, monkey balls and a number of other colorful names. Sweet Gum Trees. Fall for colorful foliage. You could ck. Many people associate sweet gum with their hard spiked fruits that fall everywhere around the tree. The sweet gum trees we have are quite tall and very prolific. We have sweet gum balls E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E ... so many that you can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting a little sweet gum seedling that recently sprouted. Discussion in 'Beginners Goat Raising' started by NoahEm, Jan 5, 2014. These giants can grow to over 75 feet tall when fully established, and color landscapes with their glossy green leaves. The tree needs the injections right before it flowers in spring. the site on poisonous plants to be sure. Sweetgum balls are anything but sweet but the prickly fruit of sweetgum trees. The sweet gum wood is also used for fabricating veneers, flooring, and … Yes, the sweet gum's spiny balls are annoying, but the worst thing about sweet gum trees are that they spread like weeds. Sweet gum wood is a favorite for furniture, and the sap is added to tincture of benzoin and found often in incense. Origin: Selection of American sweetgum. 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