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How to Clean Up Sweet Gum Balls
How to Clean Up Sweet Gum Balls. Sweet gum trees are beautiful, with spiky star-shaped leaves that provide plenty of shade in summer and produce brilliant colors in autumn. However, sweet gum balls can be a huge nuisance, and even a hazard for young animals that may swallow them, children or anyone who likes to walk around in bare feet. There are...
Sweet gum trees are beautiful, with spiky star-shaped leaves that provide plenty of shade in summer and produce brilliant colors in autumn. However, sweet gum balls can be a huge nuisance, and even a hazard for young animals that may swallow them, children or anyone who likes to walk around in bare feet. There are only a couple of ways you can clean up sweet gum balls, so be prepared to put in some time and effort.
Enlist the help of your friends, children or the kids next door to go around and simply pick up all of the sweet gum balls, but wearing gloves is recommended.
Wait until all of the sweet gum balls and leaves have fallen, and rake them up into a large pile and place in lawn bags.
Buy or rent a specialized tool for harvesting nuts, since many of the manufacturers of these machines claim that they will pick up sweet gum balls, as well.
Consider using a commercial chemical that can be sprayed on the tree to stop or decrease the production of sweet gum balls. Ask your local nursery about what options are available.
Tips & Warnings
Either find a use for your sweet gum balls, bury them in a pit far away from sewage pipes, or send them away when your city picks up lawn waste because sweet gum balls won't burn up.
If you are planting a new sweet gum tree, get the seedless variety to avoid dealing with the balls.
