Weird symptoms on a sweetgum seedling (trees, yard, autumn, fruit)

[uggabugga]

I've never seen anything like this. does anyone have any ideas what it could be?



there are weird cone-shaped nodules along the main stem, and the horizontal branches are sort of blistered open. it still seems surprisingly healthy overall, and there are numerous other trees around that have the same thing.

[Cambium]

Interesting. No idea but man do I love Sweetgum as firewood. Mmmmm! And pretty with Fall colors too.

[uggabugga]

i like the fall colors but have found it [the wood] to be a big pain to split, esp. compared to hickory or oak.

another angle to show how severe the symptoms are.

[gemstone1]

Are you sure it's not a Hackberry ?

[motordavid]

'Corky branch'...common on Sweet Gum branches.

The conical shaped nubs are almost canker like, but no canker I know of produces those.

Our Daughter's yard in Cherry Hill, NJ has a dozen old Sweet Gums and her branches look like that also, esp on the newer growth.
She has never lost a Sweet Gum tree due to disease, fwiw. Her yard clean up from all of the Summer/Autumn 'pricker ball' fruit is time consuming and makes for a very messy and hard on the bare feet surface.

GL, mD

[uggabugga]

Originally Posted by motordavid

'Corky branch'...common on Sweet Gum branches.

The conical shaped nubs are almost canker like, but no canker I know of produces those.

Our Daughter's yard in Cherry Hill, NJ has a dozen old Sweet Gums and her branches look like that also, esp on the newer growth.
GL, mD

perfect, thanks! so this is normal, not caused by a pathogen?

[gemstone1]

Thanks, I learned something today.....Sweetgum

Regards
Gemstone1

[motordavid]

From Wiki and other sites, it seems to be normal, and I have seen it often on most newer branches of the trees in our Daughter's yard...
GL, mD

[Cambium]

Originally Posted by gemstone1

Thanks, I learned something today.....Sweetgum

Regards
Gemstone1

Yup, I learned about it when a friend of mine bought a home and he was taking them down and he pointed to the "spiky things".


I learned 3 things with those trees.


Annoying spiky seed balls.
Amazing Fall Color
Awesome Firewood heat and scent

Sweetgum is an excellent urban tree provided it has a large area for root development. It has an attractive, uniform habit, dense, glossy green summer foliage and unique fall color, with several rich colors developing on a single tree. Spiky seed balls develop in autumn and persist through winter, swinging from branches on their long stems.

[Pfalz]

I have to disagree that sweetgum should be used as an urban tree. It is both short lived (rarely exceeds 100 years) and is prone to dropping very large branches during storms.