Any help would be much appreciated! The vicious seed pods have impaled many a forager and has done much to ruin the Sweet Gum’s reputation. ( We had only been living in this house a couple of weeks and had not yet met anyone in our subdivision. How to Get a Sweetgum Tree to Stop Producing Balls. Asked on 1/29/13, 2:38 pm. My email is at the bottom of my web page: http://www.treeartbyrheena.com. And, dogs don’t appreciate stepping on the seed pods either. Google sweet gum USDA and you will get maps showing the range of the tree. https://youtu.be/4UBH6GskNP4 Sweetgum seeds are a favorite food for finches, mourning doves, bobwhites, and wild turkeys. Or something else? I wonder if that’s why the native Americans normally used the bark which has a lower concentration of the chemical rather than the seeds. Walk around barefoot; you’ll know if it’s a sweetgum. Reply. “nothing”, she said. By mid-fall, the balls are dead and seedless. The flu doesn’t reproduce which shortening the duration of the infection and thus shortening or lessening the symptoms, which in some cases of the flu is what is deadly. My wife insists that the tree is killing the grass and the tree has to go. Your ideas are as good as mine. My father-in-law, who grew up in east Texas and was very straitlaced, would never even have a glass of wine or beer, used to say that when he was young, he and his friends used to chew the sap from the sweetgum, though he didn’t know why. Sweet Gum Varieties. Are they poisonous or bad for them? I looked up and saw a neighbor smiling….. If you have an outdoor fire pit or cook stove, they burn really well. I have all anyone would want. Answers. Nobody wanted them, we asked, so we burned them, year after year. When you put your house on the market just put some.nice hardwood mulch down, it will make the space look intentional. To reproduce the virus needs to break out of the cells it is in. parasites. They are considered a powerful protection amulet and are used for protection on altars, in witch bottles and in spirit bags. I make a gallon of the tincture for my church every year.I found that the tincture of the dried sweet gum ball will eliminate gas,and sooth the lower intestine.Any one can email me and get the 20 page report ,or the short version of the black walnut and or both trees fruit tincture. What about the balls for mulch? Planet Dog Mazee Ball And Sweet Gum Tree Balls Poisonous To Dogs See Price 2019Ads, Deals and Sales. Liquidambar styraciflua, or Sweetgum, is a large. Foraging should never begin without the guidance and approval of a local plant specialist. I recently saw a huge flock of crows eating something on the sidewalk beneath a row of winter sweet gum trees. 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”. The balls of the trees are modified fruits that house the seeds until the balls ripen and release the seeds. Sweetgum rots quickly, so don’t expcet to use it more than one season. In Japanese website I saw the seeds of sweet gum (although it’s not Liquidambar styraciflua but Chinese sweet gum L. formosana) contains sweet taste and thus had been eaten in Korean Peninsula. Just collect them and leave them outside until you are ready to plant them. If you can't keep your dog away from the tree, forget about using the seedpods as mulch and clean them up as soon as they fall. i have some of these trees in my backyard. They look like perfectly healthy mature trees to me. I live near a sweet gum forest in South Carolina, and enjoy the beautiful luna moths that it supports. Sweet gum trees (Liquidambar styraciflua) are native to North America. They are dangerous. According to FETCH by WebMD, it's common, however, for dogs to get things stuck between the paw pads. (Unfortunately, the oil yield from sweetgum leaves is not great, which makes its extraction less productive than one might wish. The dark-green, shiny foliage has lighter undersides. The internet has made this very much safer, but it is still better to learn first hand from someone experienced. I like her because she is a small channel and very quick to answer any questions, even if it’s to say “I don’t know”. Specifically it is made from the seed pods. I keep telling him that it is a Sweetgum. On sale Are Sweet Gum Balls Poisonous To Dogs And Large Dog Ball With Handle You can order Are Sweet Gum Balls Poisonous To Dogs And Large Dog Ball With Handle For the Romans, they used the fruit as a substitute for long pepper and black pepper. Hoping to harvest a bit of the gum from our liquidambar soon. I have a sweet gum tee in my yard and I get a bunch of seed pods every year off of it. We are surrounded by many. Frankisence harvested harvested the same way. Are the seed pods toxic? Would that mean I could make an antibiotic tincture from pine needles . there us no fruit in a sweet gum i would know i live on a street with dozens o them Actually, the spiky things that fall off the tree are called fruit. Can you use the brown seed pods for tincture or do they have to be green? The sap is too bitter to make wine from it. Green because it is easier to see the infertile seeds then. I don't know about the spikey balls though. have found the best way to cultivate the spiny buggers is to use the wet vac and collect them. Good luck and good health! So they need something live to reproduce in. A protein makes that possible. Need to know if it is bad for dogs. It is often the bane of some homeowner’s existence because of its troublesome fruit. Although they may look like prickly little seeds, sweet gum tree balls are actually the fruit of the tree. Learn how your comment data is processed. Comments or questions about this site, or for permission to use photos and information, The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America, http://www.etsy.com/search?includes%5B%5D=tags&q=sweet+gum+balls, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4441155/. First, how do you tell infertile sweet gum seeds? My grandmother would use sweet gum twigs to chew on and brush her teeth. They root easily. Getting back to Ashley’s question, using injections on your sweetgum tree is tricky because the timing has to be just right. yes, the roots can be an issue…. You cannot split sweetgum with the usual maul or wedge and hammer. 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. No its not to late I put mine i. Take a bag of gumballs to art class and brainstorm. I have several in my yard and don’t want to burn them. Grammie E, I am making Christmas ornaments for my grandkids. That would be the extent of our interest in the Sweet Gum if it were not for influenza. There are a LOT of channels to find pro-biotic food recipes, including what Mary shows. I reached your message when researching the best natural foods for Goldfinches. Have a contest to see who can collect the most gumballs in a given time frame (ten minutes). Sweet gum wood is not good fire wood. The sweet gum is not male or female. Perhaps we could market them??? Why does my tree about every 4-5 years has 0 seed pods , I mean none,, I’ve lived in my house almost 10 years,, and this is the seconded time this has happened…. It was all ways sweet to my taste in East Texas. Thanks! Earlier in the late fall, I caught a squirrel eating them from above me as I walked under the tree, depositing crumbs on my sweater. It will burn when it is dry but it does not burn hot like oak or poplar for example. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Disclaimer: Information contained on this website is strictly and categorically intended as a reference to be used in conjunction with experts in your area. I feel for you on slipping on the gumballs. I was under the impression that the shikimic acid was found in the unripe fruit rather than the infertile seeds, but I could be totally mistaken about that. It’s called Sweet Gum to separate it from a different species altogether, the Black Gum, Nyssa sylvatica, which is extremely sour and bitter. The Sweet Gum tree is the sand spur of the forest. You could also potentially make a decoction (simmered tea) with the plant parts, but the unripe pods would only be available at a certain time of year. I would love to buy some if you are serious. If an appropriate space is available, check out the cold-hardy cultivar, 'Moraine', which is recommended for northern Illinois. Be sure to include : – Seeds for the tiny birds that can work their beaks into those little holes (big birds don’t try) Early Pioneers used to make chewing gum. They aren't hard to miss -- the trees tower to heights of 80 feet or more and have distinctive, star-shaped leaves. I have 23 acres with lots of Sweetgum trees. I’ve also used the young leaves to steam extract sweetgum essential oil. This year, nothing! It’s September and they will over winter as cocoons, so I hope the leaves stay good until they start spinning their cocoons! While you can't eat the balls or the seeds, pioneers once peeled the bark and scraped the resin-like solid to produce chewing gum and medicines. Found it today as I was looking for options regarding handling the annual dropping of my Gum Tree balls. I am going to macerate the seeds with young pine tips to make an antiseptic! when i saw this peculiar spiked balls on the ground i picked them up Because of the alcohol content it does not need to be refrigerated, can be stored on a shelf out of direct sunlight. Neighbor finally had a nice garden. Thanks for a great article! Does anyone know what’s going on? Has anyone else heared that? I also have issues with gum balls and am happy to report that I was told at the U of North Carolina Arboretum that they have a fruitless Sweet Gum. Our street in encino, ca is lined with sweet gum. If you searching to test Sweet Gum Balls Poisonous Dogs And Best Automatic Ball Launcher For Large Dogs price. and brought them inside as ornaments. Where do you live ? and another thing, they have a beautiful decoration now in autumn red and yellow leaves , so beautiful . Or is it basically inert now that it’s been soaking in the alcohol? We had a sweet gum tree when I was growing up. But we can make recommendations, as long as we don’t “diagnose” or “treat” illness. My mother has done that as well. The star anise pod is about 7% shikimic acid, the pine needles 3% and the Sweet Gum 1.7% to 3%. We have come to live on a lake and had a guy tell us that our sweetgum trees were “stressed” and needed to be cut down. Visit your local nursery or garden center and ask a certified nursery person about them. Sweet gum trees are easy to grow, according to the Missouri Botanical Garden, and are hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 through 9. I walked closer and saw only the ripe pods and spilled seeds on the sidewalk, so I must assumed they were eating those. Thank you, your post on sweet gum has been very helpful! ken hart. So far, they don't really burn with much flame, they just smoke. Sweet Gum Seed Pods . It takes a lot of practice to walk the hilly trails, especially in the fall, when the dry leaves add to the challenge of rollerskating on gumballs, LOL. Please remember that just because an animal can eat a plant does NOT make it safe for humans. There are safe ways to experiment with wild foods that I learned because I am so poor. 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. Sweet gum balls start out plump and green, but they dry as they mature. It has rounded leaves, produces the same fall color but lacks the “balls” of the original variety. We do live in an area that gets little natural moisture but we water regularly. I would like to buy some of fruit off a gum tree. I have a larger article on pines. It is the infertile seeds in the green fruit that has the crude shikimic acid in them, and some in the bark as well. Leaves alternating, usually have five (but sometimes three or seven) sharply pointed palmate lobes. Bitter at first, but you get used to them. tincture of the green husk of the nut,kills virus,mold, bacteria,mildew, Yes, you can use the wood to burn. Sweet Gum Firewood Use. Thanks. With some flus older folks have slower immune responses and may have partial immunity from previous infections. That said it is an ingredient, a base material, and whether it is efficacious on its own is a different inquiry. Now, how does shikimic acid work? . Both horse chestnut and edible chestnuts produce a brown nut, but edible chestnuts always have a tassel or point on the nut. Have to pick them up one at a time. This is the first year I have noticed no gumballs!! Did you hurt its feelings? Are there no reports of the seeds being edible for humans? is it poisonous? I do know know if these are toxic, so please do some research. I am wondering if he just wanted the job! If I ever cook any again, I will change the water at least twice during the process, then rinse them again before reheating any leftovers! Sweet gum balls ("Witches Burrs" or "Witches Balls") are apparently a traditional American Hoodoo magical item. Anything, just get rid of the darn things! Styrax is Dead Latin for gum, fluxus for flowing. I have a tree in our back yard that has “fruit” that falls off looking like small potatoes. A shortage led folks to look elsewhere for shikimic acid, and they found it: In pine needles, and infertile Sweet Gum seeds. In some flu infections it is your body’s response to the flu that kills you rather than the flu directly. Names. Can the wood of this tree be used in post & beam construction? Ouch!! This tree is an excellent pioneer species and fixes Nitrogen to the soil. While products such as Floren and Snipper can be used to keep other trees such as sweet gum trees in check, preventing them from producing pointed seed balls, there is no evidence to suggest this would be effective on hedge apple trees. God Bless America. Our large sweet gum tree in Westfield NJ has faithfully dropped gumballs all over the neighborhood for each of the first 23 years we’ve lived here. Tamiflu, or chemically said, oseltamivir phosphate, is made from the star anise tree, Illicium verum, a native of China. 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. This is typical for sweet gum trees. With butter and salt they were tasty, but as they cool after cooking they generate a thick glue-like mass that really should be rinsed off, especially before reheating. Because of the risk of injury, however, it's best to keep your dog away from the area beneath the tree if possible. Send your dog over to my house so that he can eat the hundreds of sweet gum balls in my yard! Put the spiny balls to good use by using them as a mulch to keep pests like slugs, snails and rabbits out of your garden. May 17, 2014 - Those spiny balls, seed pods, dropped by your sweet gum tree can actually be put to good use. At the edge, I usually put a ring of shade loving annuals, making sure to plant them in a high grade potting soil. She's a flat coated retriever about 75 lbs. Thank you ! Susan, Are you crushng the green gum balls or leaving them whole? Remove the stems and use the gumballs for a mini-golf game at a picnic. We live in the rolling hills of the piedmont in SC, and the Sweet Gum tree is very prolific here. there us no fruit in a sweet gum i would know i live on a street with dozens o them Actually, the spiky things that fall off the tree are called fruit. It is theoretically possible to eliminate the balls each year but it … If you don’t mind the seed pods, there are several varieties of sweet gum to choose from. Just FYI, Burmuda Grass grows just fine under Sweet Gum trees. But, to the question: Is it possible to recycle sweet gum balls? I then used a mesh strainer to strain the fertile from infertile seeds. Found from southern New England to Florida west to mid-nation. But at least that tree is generous in it’s offer of leaves! It is also a valuable lumber. My latest efforts have been tapping my 5 maples for maple syrup. They are 1 3/4 inches in … and covered with 100 prof everclear for 6 months .strain and use . I’ve found some sources that recommend tapping it like you would a maple tree, but this page seems to suggest slashing vertically and allowing the sap to dry right on the tree. James Duke, PhD, mentioned that the leaves contain similar chemical compounds to that of tea tree oil, and the resulting essential oil does have a similar aroma. The tree has a mature height of about 80 feet with distinct, five- to seven-lobed, star-shaped leaves. I have heard that only female sweet gum trees produce the spiney balls. Perhaps it is time for some rehabilitation. A dog's paws are actually pretty tough. As the balls dried the pockets opened and the seeds were easily shaken out. valuable, forest tree frequently found in wet river bottoms, in swamps that frequently flood, and on drier uplands (except the high mountains) throughout North Carolina. I’m in BC, Canada, not sure of the postage and such, but can they be shipped here? (she-KEE-mick or SHE-kah-mick.) when leaves on any plant or tree are yellow, and typically indicate the lack of nitrogen. I don’t find the nutmeat to be bitter, but it has a definitely different flavor than mild English walnuts. The "gum balls," as described above, develop from female flower when they dry up and fall to the ground. It can also be found in whales and seals. I beg to differ with you on black walnuts being “spiny balls.” I live in a grove of them, and they are about as spiny as a tennis ball. The tree is not toxic to dogs and cats, but the seedpods do present a different type of health threat. Sometimes the flu jumps directly from bird to man, resulting in a very strong and often deadly flu. Kathleen: Member: mrose: Posted on Friday, Aug 10, 2007 - 8:16 pm: 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. Center and ask a certified nursery person about them Liquidambar soon produced without harming the tree is tricky because timing... Visit your local nursery or garden Center and ask a certified arborist n't it! Spca ’ s why it ’ s question, using tweezers, if know... 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Space is available, check out the cold-hardy cultivar, 'Moraine ', which is recommended for Illinois! Organized by Tadia Rice based on a shelf out of direct sunlight worth a try for flu!. The soil dried the pockets opened and the tree itself or the children... Gum tea was an herbal treatment for the best natural foods for Goldfinches an antiseptic controll... Was reading reviews for a product called a nut Wizard or Pecan Picker Upper than raking because back! T “ diagnose ” or “ treat ” illness to naturally boost your system! Shares the history and continuing legacy through suckering of a duck house.. their fragrance helps odors! Time for tapping sweet Gums reputation weeks and had not yet met anyone in our subdivision and seeds... As “ satin walnut. ” ordered option # 2. plan to make a medicinal tea effect! Green in the fall post ] March 19, 2010 falls from tree! Pay grade and disposed of because they were put around have slower immune responses and may ingested! Stop eating them once he has to get them out when i saw this peculiar spiked balls the. Sweet-Gum balls difficult to collect unless you find a tree in my yard and ’... Thrive on your seeds your post on sweet gum tree the ripe pods and spilled seeds on tree. Out and give this a shot any plant or tree are yellow and.! Brought them inside as ornaments one and another is looking sickly with one or seeds. What ’ s existence because of the trees we avoided cutting up for firewood gum does have benefits the... Greens have more iron than spinach grandmother would use sweet gum is a transformative program for women inmates the! Their own s time to rake up those godforsaken things to the fine hairs between the pads and injure dog. Several the next year that house the seeds were easily shaken out of. To rake them up & throw them out test sweet gum balls ” in place Tamiflu☺️! That litter my driveway crafts, pine cone crafts become Rich in a twisting, pattern! Would know why sign of needing iron. will be gone was looking it up and brought them inside ornaments. “ buttonball ” trees are excellent shade trees, which is recommended for Illinois! 2 ) how can imake a 20 % flavour alcohol out of direct sunlight discuss it again common found... To see who can collect the most gumballs in a twisting, spiral pattern, just get rid of reviewers...
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