Unfortunately, the entire tree must be sprayed each year and spraying at the right flower stage is critical. Most people find the effort too difficult. If you decide to try, you can purchase ethepon (click for sources) . Snipper is an injectable product that de-balls a sweetgum.
The chemical ethepon (Florel) releases ethylene gas when it is sprayed onto the tree branches while sweetgum flowers are present in spring. Ethylene gas is a powerful plant hormone. If the tree is flowering when the chemical is applied, the gas will cause the flowers to drop off.
It was introduced by J. C. Raulston in 1997 and is distinguished by a lack of the spiny, messy “gumball” fruits its parent plant is known for. This tree will grow 60 to 75 feet tall and spread 20- 40 feet wide with a open pyramidal shape.
Most of the imazapyr based herbicides do a great job of killing sweetgum trees! Many folks use the hack n squirt method and simply add 1 ml of imazapyr per each 3″ of tree diameter. If you fell and wish to treat the stumps, it is most effective to treat within five minutes or less of cutting the tree.
Each sweetgum tree annually drops hundreds of round, prickly seed capsules that can be easy to slip on when walking and are difficult to clean up.
While they're not edible, the balls can double as spiky mulch to keep animals away from young plants. You can even get creative and use them to make holiday trinkets or decorative balls for bowls.
If you're up for some experimenting, sweet gum balls can be used to make a tea from boiling the young green seeds. The resulting decoction is known for its antiviral properties and can be used as a preventative measure against sickness, or as a remedy for the flu (consult your doctor if symptoms persist).
Sweetgum balls can be run through a chipper for mulch, but should not be composted as they take years to decompose.
Sweet gum roots are highly invasive, often growing near the soil surface and damaging sidewalks, pavements, and other infrastructure. The species also produces prolific hard, round fruits that litter the ground and are often a tripping hazard. Sweet gum trees have attractive fall foliage. Sweet gum fruits.
Sweet gum seeds are eaten by many species of birds, including goldfinch, purple finch, sparrows, mourning doves, wild turkey, northern bobwhite, and wood duck, as well as by squirrels and chipmunks.
Home Remedies and Care
This includes rinsing your mouth with warm salt water, using a cold compress on the affected area, or taking over-the-counter pain medications such as Tylenol or Ibuprofen.
Prices vary, but you can get as much as $20 for 100 sweet gum balls. Hopefully, this has given you some ideas on how to make a little extra money, easily maintain a clean yard, and put those sweet gum balls to good use.
Raking with a close-teeth rake and bagging is an efficient way of getting rid of the balls.
Chemicals are available for stopping the sweetgum from bearing fruit. However, they necessitate special application tools, are time-consuming, expensive, and hard to apply. When used they make the flowers on the tree fall, neutering the tree. Using chemicals require accurate application during the flowering phase.
Sweetgum wood is used to make veneer, plywood, cabinets and furniture. The gum from these trees has been used as chewing gum and even employed to concoct medicines and salves to cure a variety of ailments, treat wounds and serve as an important ingredient in adhesives.
While the spiky gumballs of Sweetgum trees are notorious for their lawn litter, they don't pose a toxic threat to your canine companions.
If you grow hostas, the sweetgum balls make a great mulch to keep slugs away, and if neighborhood cats use your garden as a litter box, sweetgum mulch keeps them away.
Of course he is, because squirrels apparently do find these sweet gum spiky balls to be a delicacy….
In addition to the sap, the leaves, bark, and seeds of sweetgum also possess beneficial compounds such as shikimic acid, a precursor to the production of oseltamivir phosphate, the active ingredient in Tamiflu®-an antiviral drug effective against several influenza viruses.
Probably the best way to initially kill sweetgum is with a chemical called Arsenal. Depending on the size of the trees it can be injected or if small seedling/sapling size the trees can be cut then this chemical (or something similar) can be sprayed over the top of the newly cut seedlings.
Preventing the flowering of sweet gum trees is probably best done by a professional. There are two products that can be used, and they need to be applied annually. Florel is a spray, which needs to be carefully timed.
Sweetgum isn't an ideal food source for deer, but they'll still eat it as a 3rd choice browse plant.
Sweetgum is a relatively hard, uniform grained wood previously used for furniture and plywood. It tends to warp and stain easily. It is low valued and currently rarely used, except for industrial blocking and pallets.