Sweet Gum Tree Balls

Six great things to use sweetgum balls for.

Sweet gum tree balls. The only difference is sweetgum balls drop all fall and winter. The tree s gum resin for which the tree is named exudes from the bark of the tree when wounded. Lay the seed pods around young plants to deter snails and slugs who would rather not tangle with them. This means that only one tree is needed for the flowers to be pollinated and a single tree can produce the spiky fruits even when another sweet gum tree is not in sight.

The spiky clusters are actually balls of fruit with tiny seeds inside that birds and squirrels snack on. The one major flaw of this deciduous tree is the hundreds of spiny woody. By mid fall the balls are dead and seedless. The round fruit balls are produced from fertilized flowers.

A notable exception is rotundiloba liquidambar styraciflua rotundiloba usda zones 5 through 9 which is a sterile female cultivar that does not produce fruits. It has many names including liquid amber or copalm balsam. As the resin ages it solidifies the form in which it was historically exported in barrels. It is a kind of native balsam or resin resembling turpentine.

Consult your doctor if. The sweet gum got its name for the resinous sap that results when you score its bark. According to the lazy landscaper these hard brown spiky balls that can create some serious hazards. The trees spike ball fruit is almost as telltale for identification as the star shaped leaves.

If you have more than one sweet. When do sweetgum tree balls fall. While you wait the tree has much to offer. Go out with a bucket and fill it with seed pods and in the spring you may just use some.

Just like leaves they must fall so the tree can prep for new growth. The resulting decoction is known for it s antiviral properties and can be used as a preventative measure against sickness or as a remedy for the flu. The tree s dark grayish brown twigs bear unusual corky ridges that lend the tree a peculiar angularity. It takes the sweet gum tree 20 to 30 years to mature enough to produce its fruit.

Birth control injections for sweet gum trees. The resin is produced by stripping boiling and pressing the tree s bark. If you re up for some experimenting sweet gum balls can been used to make a tea from boiling the young green seeds. The infertile seeds of the sweet gum ball contain shikimic acid which is also contained in the same tree used to make tamiflu.

The spiky seed pods from the sweetgum tree are not only fascinating to look at they can actually help out in the garden. As a monoecious plant a sweet gum bears male and female flowers. But did you know there may be a natural remedy in your backyard. The sweet gum s primary liability according to the makers of this list are the thousands of spiny brown seed balls gum balls if you will that it casts upon the ground around it.