Sweet Gum Balls

[StanWilhite]

Originally Posted by New2TheGreenIndustry

It's not a bad looking tree, it's the litter. I slip on them, they get stuck in the belt pulleys, and make a huge mess to clean-up.

I have had about a dozen or so sweet gum trees in my yard for a little over 35 years. They are decent looking trees, but in addition to the pesky "balls", the tops of the trees die and fall on a regular basis. You have to remember not to park anything under them that you don't want crushed, because the tops that fall are 4 to 6 inches in diameter and 6 to 8 ft long.

I'm not aware of anything you can do to prevent this, from what I understand it's just a trait of that particular type of tree.

[Capemay Eagle]

I would rather have sweet gum balls than acorns!

[New2TheGreenIndustry]

Originally Posted by Capemay Eagle

I would rather have sweet gum balls than acorns!

It's a toss-up. At least the acorns do get jammed in the mower.

The only tree I have close to my house is a water oak. I try to tell my wife how big it'll be and about the pita acorns. She might just come home one day to a new stack of firewood.