Sweet Gums - Worth?

[UpstateSC_Papi]

Not a tree guy. Looking to start to clean out some woods in front of the new place. I would venture to guess that about 1/2 of the trees in there are sweet gums. I (and my wife) am/are not fans of the sweet gum. Color isn't great in fall, those **** little spikey balls, and well, we just don't like them.

Once down, are they good for anything? Mulch? Firewood? I, as mentioned, don't know anything about hardwood, softwood, etc so not sure what burns well, what doesn't.

Bottomline - would there be anyone that "deals" with trees that might be interested in these OR do I just need to take them down and dispose of them?

Thanks guys!!

 

[BXpanded]

Gum burns hot but leaves lots of "Clinkers" kinda like chunks of charcoal that take a long time to completely burn. It's almost impossible to split. The grain twists. Its tough for most hydraulic splitters.
As far as other uses, I once had a house that had been built around 1950. The guy that built it had all the inside trim custom made from Gum cut from the property. Had 6 panel doors, crown molding, baseboards, fireplace surround and mantel... It was without a doubt the prettiest woodwork I've ever seen. I've never seen it used anywhere else.

 

[firedog]

Not good for firewood and definitely not good for BBQ wood (bitter), dull a chainsaw in a hurry. Other than using the gumballs to slingshot at pesky kids in the neighborhood I have found no use for them.

 

[UpstateSC_Papi]

Anyone familar with the root system? Easy to knock over? My goal this winter would be to cut them down, leaving "X" number of feet above ground to have to push against later on.

 

[tony123]

Michael,

Look back on my farm thread near the beginning. You see the large hoe that he was ripping the trees up with. He could pull a 6"caliper oak up in about 3 seconds. The 6" Sweet Gums took him about 10 minutes of rough, banging work. The wood would not break, only splinter into an almost "fiberglass" look.

When our lot was cleared for the house, a large excavator was used. He would push over 20" oaks with ease....20" sweetgums would bog him down and he'd have to attack from several angles.

That being said, I've got a bunch of it that I'm using as firewood and it's not so bad for that. Oak is nicer, but the SG was free!

Hope you and your family are enjoying the house!

 

[SnowRidge]

When our lot was cleared for the house, a large excavator was used. He would push over 20" oaks with ease....20" sweetgums would bog him down and he'd have to attack from several angles.

Yup. Just went through the same thing. The sweetgums and sycamores really slowed things down. The operator spent a lot of time (@ $100/hour) digging to free up the roots. No way they would just push over without digging first.

 

[UpstateSC_Papi]

As always, great info guys! I appreciate it!!

Tony - I hope to update my house thread tomorrow. Not much in the way of pics but some comments. In a nutshell - we love it!!

 

[davo727]

We sat and watched the hurricane bend the pine trees over, snap the big pines, blow the oaks over and rip their rootballs right out of the ground and the big sweetgums just sat there and barely even twitched.

 

[SPIKER]

check here if anyone is near ya might be able to sell a few.
http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php/board,3.0.html
mark

 

[teg]

Sweetgum is/was (?) used for Railroad ties. What diameter trees do you have?

 

[rustyanchor]

My limited exp with sweet gums is, If you don't get the root system out you will have new groth from every piece of root you left. They are tenacious growers.

This years experiment is drilling a couple of 1/2" holes in the trunk and putting full strength Round Up in. It has browned the trees up, but I'll see come spring time if it truly will kill the root system. Most of the trees I'm trying to get rid of are 3-4" and I don't want to keep fighting the suckers I will get if I just tear the trees out.

I'll let you know if the Round Up actually kills them or just stuns them.

Mark

 

[dawoodwa]

My granddad had the best description for sweetgums....."God put them on this earth to hold the ground together to keep **** from popping out".....Other than that they aren't much good for anything.

 

[6string]

The only use we ever had for them was poles for sheds. We had about 30 acres of our place planted in hardwoods (CRP) about 9 yr. ago and for the first 3 yr. couldn't bushhog the grass between the trees (broken tractor,bushhog,etc.) In the meantime the sweetgums took over, been able to hog quite a bit of it. A tree shear ( which I hope to make thanks to this fine forum) and industrial chipper would really help. The one plus side of it is the deere love the thickets. Happily, quite a few of the gums died last summer and this summer due to heat stress I suppose.

 

[EddieWalker]

Here, Sweetgums can be sold for railroad ties. The last time I checked, they wanted 13 inch bottoms and ten foot lengths. Price was $10 a ton.

Finding them that big is rare, most are too small on my land, so I just burn them in my burn piles to get rid of them.

Eddie

 

[Redbug]

I did not know that sweetgums were used as cross ties. I had always thought it was just oak that was used. A good use for a marginal use tree!

Much of the sweetgum harvested around here also goes into pulpwood for paper. And I believe a good many pallets are made from the wood, too. I burn a good amount of sweetgum in the wood stove each year, since it is so available. It does burn hot and fast, but I can't complain since for me it is free for the taking and an unlimited supply.

As for getting rid of it Michael, you can cut the trees down, (firewood...woo hoo), then paint Roundup on the stumps to kill the tree. The wood rots fairly quickly since it is not so dense and fairly light. Maybe a couple years you can push the mostly rotten stump out with the loader.

 

[JHTFarmer]

Not much of an empty field guy. I like my Sweetgums. In our part of the country these trees grow tall and full with dense foliage and provide ample shade. They are disease resistant and durable through tropical storms/hurricanes. Sweetgums will be planted prominently in the World Trade Center Memorial Garden and that is good enough for me. This is America though, and I support your liberal right to cut your trees down

 

[andrewj]

I thought they were worthless trash until I saw furniture made from them that was more beautiful than curlywood maple or walnut. I kid you not.

 

[HickoryNut]

My horses won't go near a gumball tree for fear of getting the balls wedged in their hoofs.

Here's my way of getting rid of them. Girdle them real good so they'll die and dry out. Then come back about a year later and cut them down and burn them in my stump cooker. Tree gone, stump gone, and no sprouts. Labor intensive but I'll be mowing right over it next year. I've got 3 different sizes of these cookers, this is the mid-size which I use most.

Trunk cut into cookies ready heave into the cooker.

This lightning-struck beast in the background has been girdled and I'll fell and burn it next fall.

 

[SnowRidge]

Very nice looking property, HickoryNut.

 

[UpstateSC_Papi]

Thanks guys!! Tremendous posts and ideas!

HickoryNut - How do you "girdle" a tree? I'm assuming your cooker is sitting over/around the stump?

JHTFarmer - WTC, really? Wow, didn't know that. I love trees as well but prefer dogwoods, maples, oaks, etc and there are plenty in our little 2 acres of "forest". Just want to give them some room to breathe and grow!