sweet gum trees

[jimmie]

We are considering purchasing house here in Charleston, South Carolina and sweetgum trees seem to be in abundance. Other than the large seed pods they drop, are there any other drawbacks? How long do these trees live? How do they fare in a hurricane compared to other trees?

[Mel-icious]

Sorry I don't know the first thing about them. :o You might want to check out www.gardenweb.com . ;)

[nancyb5050]

The sweet gum balls are indead a pain=but the autumn color is brilliant-none better.I have read the wood makes a good grade lumber for construction-as for firewood,it splits raggedly-but starts easier than red oak,very good to get a fire started with.Also makes a nice shade.When you cut off saplings ,several new shoots come back from rheir cut trunks ,so to be rid of that particulartree you must dig up root ball-which can be difficult-or maybe could use a stump killer,which I havent tried.Also they sprout new trees along their upper root systems and seem to have more than their fair share of roots that grow above ground.I previously felt they were very resistant and strong,robust,but recently have lost a number to unknown causes-some kind of weavil or maybe drought conditiuns or whatever-Do know the evil weed eaters-string cutter will do them in after repeated uses.We still have a fair number of them,but wouldnt mind it if initially we had not ridded ourself of as many as we did,and had not touched some of the ones we really wanted with that stringed eater thing.