Sweetgum's status

[livemusic]

How are sweetgum's viewed in today's forestry? Used to be kind of a trash tree? Now, what? When someone says they are selling a lot of gum trees, that includes sweetgum, right? Do timber people now like sweetgum since it grows fast and gets big? Does anyone ever plant them? Seems I read something one time about hybrid sweetgum, might have that wrong.

[WDH]

In the deep South, it is a low grade palletwood species.  Also used for pulp.  The spiral grain makes sawing and drying boards flat very difficult.  Has low wildlife value.  Generally considered a low value weed type tree by Foresters.  Not generally planted for these reasons. 

[Southside]

But @Magicman LOVES the stuff!!!  :D

[ellmoe]

In the deep South, it is a low grade palletwood species.  Also used for pulp.  The spiral grain makes sawing and drying boards flat very difficult.  Has low wildlife value.  Generally considered a low value weed type tree by Foresters.  Not generally planted for these reasons.

Also used in wire bound wood boxes , its characteristics make it a superior choice for the veneer used in these boxes. However, demand for these boxes has been greatly reduced with cardboard products being used instead.

[hacknchop]

Where I am we have a lot of Aspen locals call Poplar , we also have  Balmagilead
which grows much bigger and is full of water is this similar to Sweetgum?  Hopefully I'm not taking this thread off topic or hijacking it if so please accept my apologies.

[Claybraker]

Mom taught me to always say something nice. I like the way Sweetgum responds to Arsenal. Arborists make some good money removing them from yards in the 'burbs.

[Magicman]

But @Magicman LOVES the stuff!!!  :D

At the present time, yes I am sawing timbers/posts from Sweetgum.  One pith centered post per log and absolutely no side lumber.  So far the ones that I sawed ~2 months ago have remained straight.  This is a situation where the customer needed/needs hundreds of porch posts for condos and Sweetgum is what he had. 
I am loving this job, but I still Hates Sweetgum.  It grows fast enough to completely take over and choke out a property (very invasive) and then seemingly quits getting larger. 

[btulloh]

Sweetgum is the wood of choice for making bushel baskets.

[timberking]

Looking at our wood yard price sheet, hardwood pulp ie. sweet gum, is almost twice the price (162%) of pine.  Conversion of timberland to pine has set up hardwood to always be in demand.

[Southside]

And the spread will get wider as time goes on with more and more pine being planted.  

[YellowHammer]

I was at a mega mill this morning and asked the foreman the same question.  He said they are paying up to 50 cents because crossties prices are so high and in such demand and selling for $35 per tie.  Not too long ago the price was 35 cents.    

Sweetgum is about as valuable or more so than red oak right now.  

[livemusic]

I was at a mega mill this morning and asked the foreman the same question.  He said they are paying up to 50 cents because crossties prices are so high and in such demand and selling for $35 per tie.  Not too long ago the price was 35 cents.    

Sweetgum is about as valuable or more so than red oak right now.  

Hi YH, up to 50 cents what or per what?

[YellowHammer]

50 cents per bdft or $500 per thousand bdft Doyle scale in the log.  I'm sure they'd have to be decent logs, but wow, that's the highest I've ever heard for sweetgum logs.

[Woodpecker52]

Used it for beams and side boards no problem, use to be used in cheaper gun stocks now its just plastic.  It is a volunteer species comes in under pine etc.  Not a "weed" in my book, would rate it just below yellow poplar in terms of lumber. In my book it would be rated high in terms of sawing ease.

[livemusic]

50 cents per bdft or $500 per thousand bdft Doyle scale in the log.  I'm sure they'd have to be decent logs, but wow, that's the highest I've ever heard for sweetgum logs.

Hope I looked at a table right... does the above mean a landowner could get 100 bucks, even more per large sweetgum?

When you see a Boardfeet table that shows diameter on one axis and then number of 16' logs on other, what does 16' log mean? If it is on the 20" line for diameter, does that mean it's 20" at butt end and whatever at the other end? Or does it have to be 20" and a certain diameter at smaller end? Would you get only one 16' log out of a 20" tree or could it be two?

[Banjo picker]

@livemusic If you look in the red tool box on the bottom left of your page....if you are on the full site.  It will tell you that the measurement has to be on the little end of the log inside the bark.  How many logs you get from a tree has a lot to do with how the tree grew.  If there was competition when it was smaller it could grow tall and you could get more than one log from a tree.  A tree grown in an open field will not be as tall and will have too many limbs to be very good for anything.

When I was cutting cross ties, I sawed a log of sweetgum. I kind of go by what I heard on here a long time ago....grow your best trees, because you don't know what the market will want 10 years down the road.  What Yellowhammer just posted backs that up.  Banjo

[Southside]

I quarter saw and dry gum with good heart to it and it sells FAST.  People love the look and it stays very stable.  I hope all the extension folks keep telling landowners to spray gum in order promote pine and I will continue to grow mixed stands on our lots with nice, big, gum.