How Do You Stop Gum Balls on Trees

For the best chance of stopping the sweetgum balls, hire a certified arborist. The tree needs the injections right before it flowers in spring. Then, the flowers drop, preventing the balls from ever forming.

How do you control gum trees?

There are two main ways you can help control your sweet gums: chopping down the sapling or making indentations into its bark, and both of these methods require an herbicide spray. With a little bit of time, you’ll be on your way to controlling your saplings.

What can you do with gum tree balls?

Tulsa Master Gardener Brian Jervis said sweet gum balls make a good, loose garden mulch, allowing air and water to pass into the soil below but blocking sunlight from reaching germinating weeds at ground level.