Sweet Gum Tree Spiky Balls

The fruit it bears provides food for many animals including squirrels wood ducks whitetail deer birds and beavers.

Sweet gum tree spiky balls. On our typical route there are 3 trees that bear these weird little balls. The winter buds are yellow brown one fourth of an inch long acute. Because sweet gum tree balls are large and covered with sharp spikes they also. The only difference is sweetgum balls drop all fall and winter.

By mid fall the balls are dead and seedless. This large tree provides shade in the summer gorgeous orange red and yellow leaves in the fall and is a great privacy barrier. Burrs small rocks and yes sweet gum tree balls can cling to the fine hairs between the pads and injure the dog. Additionally the sweet gum s spiky gum balls hang conspicuously from the tree s smaller branches sometimes all winter.

Summer shade and vibrant fall leaf color are merits of the sweet gum tree liquidambar styraciflua. Sweet gum is banned in some places for this reason. The inner scales enlarge with the growing shoot becoming half an inch long green tipped with red. We ve taken hundreds of walks in our neighborhood and have run into the same patches of spiky balls countless times.

Let s not forget about the beauty of the sweet gum ball tree itself. Round spiny fruits or balls that litter the ground making a simple walk across the yard a precarious one. Just like leaves they must fall so the tree can prep for new growth. For instance yesterday i finally looked up tree with spiky balls yeah i giggled a little inside at the search terms.

I ve twisted my ankle on them. In abundance they can leave a lawn lumpy. 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. The tradeoff for these perks is a source of aggravation for some gardeners.

The spiky clusters are actually balls of fruit with tiny seeds inside that birds and squirrels snack on. However the search is long overdue. According to the lazy landscaper these hard brown spiky balls that can create some serious hazards. Birth control injections for sweet gum trees.

A fast growing tree the sweetgum offers plenty of shade while growing well in a vast range of soils and moisture levels.