We have three Sweetgum trees in total.
(1) Sweetgum #1: A mail-order tree from TyTy, planted in 2013. This tree started off small (about 3.5 ft), puny, and covered in anthracnose fungus, but since then has grown rapidly with an amazing expansion of the trunk in 2015. In 2016, it was already pretty tall. Plenty more upward growth in 2017. (2) Sweetgum #2: We purchased this 18ft tall tree in a 30 gallon pot in April 2013 from Verdant Tree Farm in Houston. This was the first large tree we planted ourselves, and we didn't do a great job as a thin layer of clay ended up on top of the good soil of the root-ball. This thin layer of clay prevented water from soaking into the root-ball, so in a few weeks despite plenty of watering, the leaves wilted. I corrected the problem and some of the leaves perked up again, and some fell off.
Soon afterwards the tree developed another insidious issue which I didn't realize until too late. A borer beetle had girdled the trunk about four-fifths of the way around at a height of about 3 feet off the ground. The picture below shows the damage underneath the bark with multiple galleries and plenty of frass.
In the spring of 2014 I spotted this beetle on the trunk near the damaged area and I wonder whether this was the adult form of the grubs that girdled the tree. It looks a bit like a "flat-headed appletree borer", but a little different. Found out it was a "Dicerca lurida" metallic wood-boring beetle.
In 2014 the tree sprouted profusely from below the girdled area, and the part above the girdled area eventually died and I chopped it off. The tree didn't look too bad in 2016 (see below).
In August 2017 Sweetgum #2 continued to add height and was looking strong with a good crop of fruit.
(3) Sweetgum #3: When Sweetgum #1 was still small and spindly and Sweetgum #2 didn't look like it would make it, I purchased a third Sweetgum tree in February 2014 (30 gallons, from Bill Bownds Nursery). This tree has been doing fine since, although it hasn't really shown much vertical growth, unlike the other two Sweetgums. In 2016 we now had 3 healthy Sweetgum trees!
One great thing about Sweetgum trees are the flowers in spring - they are beautiful. Sweetgum #3 was covered with them in 2015. Although Sweetgums are supposed to turn all shades of red, purple, and yellow in autumn, all three of our Sweetgums turn yellow most years.
However, on November 13th 2016, Sweetgum #3 had a bit more color
...and Sweetgum #1 was showing some color in mid December 2016.
On April 8th 2017, Sweetgum #1 produced its first set of flowers and fruit.
In early May 2017, after three very healthy summers, my larger Sweetgum (#3) did not leaf out on several (>50%) of its branches - the leaves on the remaining branches were somewhat twisted by fungus. I didn't understand how such a healthy tree could change so dramatically. A scratch test on the leafless branches showed they were mostly still alive, but not as green under the bark as I would expect. The other two Sweetgums were doing well, especially Sweetgum #1 which was flourishing.
By August 19th 2017, Sweetgum #3 had made a full recovery. I pruned off the branches that failed to leaf out and many new vigorous sprouts had grown out of the remaining branches and trunk. All 3 Sweetgum trees were very healthy throughout 2018. On November 27th 2018, Sweetgums #1 and #2 had both transformed to spectacular autumnal foliage, with Sweetgum #1 showing scarlet red, dark purple, and orange leaves, and Sweetgum #2 showing reddish orange leaves. It is strange that they were so colorful this year compared to all previous years. The first two pictures below are Sweetgum #1 and the third picture is Sweetgum #2 |
Sweetgum #1 (early July 2021). Now the tallest of the three Sweetgums.
Sweetgum #2 (late June 2021)
Sweetgum #3 (late June 2021)
Sweetgum #1 (early July 2020)
Sweetgum #2 (early July 2020)
Sweetgum #3 (early July 2020)
Sweetgum #3 (end of June 2019)
Sweetgum #2 (end of June 2019)
Sweetgum #1 (end of June 2019)
Sweetgum #3 (July 2018)
Sweetgum #1 (July 2018)
Sweetgum #1 (July 2017)
Sweetgum #3 (July 2017)
Sweetgum #2 (July 2017)
Sweetgum #2 (July 2016)
Sweetgum #3 (July 2016)
Sweetgum #3 (2014)
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