Columnar Sweetgum

Columnar sweetgum

Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) 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.

Is a sweetgum tree messy?

Many people think the sweetgum tree is quite beautiful, especially in the fall. It's found in many parts of the US, including the Northeast. However, the sweetgum tree is exceptionally messy. The tree's annoying seed pods are round, hard, and spikey, making them difficult to clean up.

Is there a difference between a gum tree and a sweet gum tree?

Black Tupelo or Nyssa sylvatica is the most common true gum in North America and grows from Canada to Texas. Another common tree that is called a "gum" is sweetgum and is actually an entirely different tree species classification called Liquidambar. The fruit and leaves of sweetgum look nothing like these true gums.

Is Sweet Gum a fast growing tree?

Growth Rate This tree grows at a medium to fast rate, with height increases of anywhere from 13" to more than 24" per year.

What is the lifespan of a sweet gum tree?

Sweet Gum trees are large deciduous trees with beautiful ovular/oval shape. They are long lived, with ages reaching 100-150 years old. Once a tree reaches 20-30 years in age it will start producing seed pods.

Is a sweetgum tree a good tree?

Sweetgum trees are large, deciduous trees found in Asia and North America. Sweetgum trees are important resources for medicinal and other beneficial compounds. Many of the medicinal properties of sweetgum are derived from the resinous sap that exudes when the outer bark of the tree has been damaged.

Why is the sweetgum often considered a nuisance tree?

Sweet gums, often called “gumball” trees, are a nuisance because they annually drop hundreds of round, prickly seed capsules that can be easy to slip on when walking and are difficult to clean up.

Do sweetgum trees drop balls every year?

The spiky clusters are actually balls of fruit with tiny seeds inside that birds and squirrels snack on. By mid-fall, the balls are dead and seedless. Just like leaves, they must fall, so the tree can prep for new growth. The only difference is sweetgum balls drop all fall and winter.

Are sweet gum balls poisonous to dogs?

Chewing gum typically contains about 0.22-1.0 gram of xylitol per piece! This means that a 10-pound dog could be poisoned by just one piece of gum.

Are sweet gum trees good for landscaping?

As summer turns into fall, the star-shaped leaves on the Sweetgum ball trees change from green to yellow, and on to red and possibly purple; making these trees ideal for colorful landscaping. The Sweetgum also grows in a pyramidal shape growing more oval with age, requiring minimal shaping and provides plenty of shade.

Are sweet gum trees deep rooted?

Some communities have large numbers of Sweetgum planted as street trees. Much of the root system is shallow (particularly in its native, moist habitat), but there are deep vertical roots directly beneath the trunk in well-drained and in some other soils.

Where should I plant a sweet gum tree?

Sweetgums need a location in full sun or partial shade. They grow in almost any soil, from sandy to clay and from acid to slightly alkaline. They have a lot of shallow roots, but they also have some deep roots that prefer moist, deep soil. They tolerate winters in USDA plant hardiness zones 5 through 9.

What is a sweetgum tree good for?

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.

Do sweet gum trees smell?

They are vigorous shade trees from the southeastern United States with star-shaped leaves that smell sweetly resinous if scratched. From the leaf shape you might think it a maple, except that no maple can match the sweet odor.

What can I plant under a sweet gum tree?

Succulents cope well with dry soil conditions under gum trees. Two good choices for areas toward the edge of gum trees' shadow are moonstones (Pachyphytum oviferum) and Hooker's pachyphytum (Pachyphytum hookeri). Growing 4 to 6 inches tall, both are easy to care for and tolerate partial shade.

Do gum trees fall easily?

We do know that some types of tree are more prone to sudden branch drop such as Ficus (Moreton Bay Fig), Beech, Oak, Sycamore, Elm and Eucalyptus. Some of the Elm species and the Eucalypts including River Red Gum, Sugar Gum, Spotted Gum and the Narrow-leafed Peppermint are particularly susceptible.

Do sweet gum balls decompose?

The gum balls can be messy in a yard, and they hurt to step upon barefooted. I advise folks to rake up the gum balls and toss them into the back of a flower bed or into a compost bin – they decompose and crumble eventually, and provide organic matter for our sandy soils.

Are sweet gum trees strong in storms?

“Less wind-resistant are laurel oak, turkey oak, Chinese tallow and red maple. Southern red cedar, sweet gum and silver maple all appear to have crowns which are easily damaged by the winds.” The Carolina laurel cherry and the sand pine were the most vulnerable of all.

Do sweetgum trees lose their leaves in the winter?

Mixed buds of the American sweetgum form in mid-September, and the tree drops its leaves in the fall, and goes dormant during winter. After dormancy, the small green flowers of the sweetgum begin to bloom from March to May.

Does anything eat sweetgum balls?

Male red-winged blackbirds have distinctive red markings on their wings, called coverts, while the females are brown and very sparrow like. That day, I learned that blackbirds are more than willing to eat the fruit of the sweet gum tree, those annoying spiky balls you step on when you're barefoot in your backyard!