How to stop Sweet Gum ball growth???

[JTinaTree]

Well I know I have heard something of a fertilizer you can apply to tree base, that will stunt the growth of the balls. The American Sweet Gum is good for shade but the fruits it produces are very annoying. I am constantly cleaning up after them. Seems like they are dropping balls all year round. North Carolina is full of these trees everywhere. Some of ya"ll give me some advice on this

 

[NickfromWI]

Cut them down and replant with Liquidambar styraciflua "rotundiloba" or how ever the heck that's spelled and written... Round Leaf Sweetgum. Sweet gum with no balls!

love
nick

 

[ropensaddle]

Whack it and stack it lol.:hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Florel works well if they hit it at the right time, NAA (napthalene ascidic acid) products will cause the immature balls to shrivle and fall. It has a longer window of treatment.

Both are topical spray applications.

 

[PUclimber]

The sprays work well and also there is a soil drench and micro injections that can be used. The injections and drench will not work this year but will be effective for the following year. Right now the inhibitors are fairly untested and unproven with a high perecentage rate. I've been told that you can also use sevin as a spray that will kill the flowering buds. Not really an intended use but I've heard it works.

 

[Climb020]

I rememeber reading in the Sherrill cat. on a trunk injection that would do this for a number of species and I do believe sweetgums where one.

 

[JTinaTree]

Well, I don't want to destroy the tree its 50-70 years old. It provides good shade in the summer for the side of the house. Climb020 I deal with Sherrils alot they are real close to me, I will call and see if they have and injection for it. I don't no of any body that has spray rigs, could the spray be applied using any other method if I went that route??

 

[PUclimber]

I am pretty sure unless you do a foliar spray this year that you will still get the seed balls off of your sweet gum. Sherrill has the capsules that will work. The stuff from sherrill is called Snipper and is in the small capsule micro injections. You need one capsule for every 4 inches of circumfrence.