Botanic Garden >> Gardening > >> Question and Answer >> About Gardening

Sweetgum Limb Drop: Brittle Wood and Heavy Seed Balls

Sweetgum bears seedpods in cycles. Gary Peiffer (DeKalb forester): brittle limbs crash down, especially after rain weighs down sodden balls. Ethephon (Florel) spray in spring can eliminate balls but impractical for large trees. Hire arborist to evaluate structural integrity; may recommend removal.

About Gardening: Pecan Tree Limb Drop: Drought, Weevils, and Borers; Topped Tree Recovery: Managing Epicormic Sprouts; Spruce/Hemlock Near a Townhouse: Root and Limb Concerns; Renovating an Overgrown Bougainvillea: Hard Pruning a Woody Vine into Shape; Tree Pruning: Essential for Safety, Health, and Storm Resilience; Managing Persistent Sweetgum Saplings in Your Lawn; Why Mature Pecans Drop Large Limbs: Brittle Wood and Preventive Pruning; Formosan Sweetgum Identified on UGA Campus; Sweetgum Balls: Stop Them With Florel Spray or Plant Fruitless 'Rotundiloba'; Sweetgum Seedpods: Nature's Spiky Balls

Garden Articles

Tree Wound Sealants: Why You Should Skip Them

Sweetgum with Deeply Lobed Leaves: A Potential Cultivar Discovery

DIY Tree Cabling: Dangerous and Ineffective

Silver Maple with Trunk Conks and Decay: Dangerous, Remove Immediately

Pecan Tree Blown Over by Wet Snow: Roots Snapped, Cannot Be Saved

Sawtooth Oak Dead Limbs: Natural Shading, Not Disease

Foxfire: The Eerie Glow of Fungal Decay in Wood

Plants

Newly Planted Crabapple Limb Death: Transplant Shock Watering

Pruning Sealant on Neighbor’s Pine: Not Required, Not Recommended

Pine with Snapping Sound and Brown Needles: Bark Beetles

Bradford Pear Pruning: Winter Is Fine, Follow 5‑Step Plan

Sweetgum Stump Removal for Arborvitae Planting: Move Over, Don't Dig

Red Oak Losing Limbs in Summer: Drought Stress, Not Borers

Sweetgum “Wings” on Twigs: Normal Corky Growth, Not Fungus