# topping a sweetgum?



## hipster dufus (Feb 28, 2018)

i have a large sweetgum tree next to my driveway. dont want it removed, im afraid ill have another sinkhole. can a sweetgum be topped off and stay alive?maybe 30 ft up. its probably 50-60 ft tall. thanks


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## Buck70 (Feb 28, 2018)

I'm not a tree surgeon but I have never been able to kill a sweetgum when I tried.


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## Miguel Cervantes (Feb 28, 2018)

I am not sure how cutting the tree down and grinding the stump would create a sink hole. Explain please.


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## ryanh487 (Feb 28, 2018)

If you top it, you'll get a dead section in the trunk.  Then it will grow around it.  You'll have a rotten ball/hollow spot 30 foot up a 60 foot tree before too long, and then the next time it's topped it will be by a storm.  Get it removed and have the stump ground, then fill in the hole with dirt.  Won't be a sinkhole.


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## baddave (Feb 28, 2018)

you could cut it to the ground and it'll come back all through the roots and nodule on the stump .. just spray the leaves when they come out .. it might take a year ..spray w/a heavy dose of glyphosphate .. i do 6 oz to a gal rate -- the stump will eventually leave a hole but you could fill it in -- too easy


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## tree cutter 08 (Feb 28, 2018)

ryanh487 said:


> If you top it, you'll get a dead section in the trunk.  Then it will grow around it.  You'll have a rotten ball/hollow spot 30 foot up a 60 foot tree before too long, and then the next time it's topped it will be by a storm.  Get it removed and have the stump ground, then fill in the hole with dirt.  Won't be a sinkhole.



Exactly! I re top a few hundred trees a year for view jobs here in the mountains each year and every single time they will rot out. You will have some settling years down the road from the large tap root on a gum. Grinders only go so deep, But its not going to be enough to worry about.


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## NCHillbilly (Feb 28, 2018)

Topping a tree ruins it. You are better off taking it out. The wood that grows back after topping is weak, and the trunk usually rots. Basically, you are left with a decayed trunk topped with a bunch of overgrown watersprout limbs that will break off in almost every storm.


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## notnksnemor (Feb 28, 2018)

Sweet gums should be topped at ground level and then sprayed with stump killer.


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## gunnurse (Feb 28, 2018)

Also, do not plan on using the wood for firewood. It will not split


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## treemanjohn (Feb 28, 2018)

NCHillbilly said:


> Topping a tree ruins it.



Correct. Just cut the sucker down. Topping trees ruins the structure and how they respond to windy conditions. Those limbs will grow longer and longer adding weight and we'll snap like pencils when they get wet.


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## GA native (Mar 1, 2018)

If you top it now, you'll be removing it in a few years anyway. Topping the tree just ruins the structure and invites bugs and rot.

I've got holes from long dead trees, popping up all over my yard. My fix is a bag of sakrete filling the bottom 2/3's of the hole, poured dry and tamped in, and clay mixed with topsoil finishing the hole to ground level.

Sweetgums are garbage trees anyway. Cut that sucker down and plant something pretty like an oak or hickory.


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## Russdaddy (Mar 1, 2018)

in my experience just wait and the top of the sweetgum will die and fall off on its own. I hate those trees


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## baddave (Mar 1, 2018)

gunnurse said:


> Also, do not plan on using the wood for firewood. It will not split



not trying to be a butt  .but actually it's easy to split and makes very good firewood .. take off the edges right up against the core and usually (depending on diameter) you'll have 4 semi circle pieces and a nice square core .. trust me i have 4500 sq. ft and i heat mainly w/ wood .. i sometimes seek out sweetgum for my firewood ..


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