Black Gum

[Magicman]

My favorite tree in the late Summer is the Black Gum.  It's our first tree to show color.  We had a huge tree in front of our home when I was growing up.  It was at least 6' diameter, and a storm took it down.

I want one back close to that old original spot.  I'm not having any luck finding a seedling that I can mark and transplant in January.

Reckon I could plant some of these "berries" in a flower pot and have any success?
 


The first sign of what's to come.   

[SwampDonkey]

Wow, that's gonna be a fire red. Can you get one at a nursery?

[Wick]

     Magic,

 See if this helps.   
 http://www.gardenguides.com/taxonomy/blackgum-nyssa-sylvatica/

Those green leaves almost look like persimmon to me. Especially with those dark blotches on the leaves. The limbs don't though. Black gum must not be related to sweet gum... right?

[WDH]

I really love the beautiful red color in the fall from the blackgums.  Some are starting to turn here too.  Wick, you are right, the blackgum and the sweetgum come from different families.  There is a trick to telling blackgum from persimmon by looking at the pith in a twig.  Blackgum has a diaphrammed pith (with little dividers) while persimmon is entire.

[Okrafarmer]

What can you make out of black gum, what is it good for? We have a few around here but not many. Is it the same as Tupelo?

[Wick]

Yep!

[Ron Wenrich]

Black gum lumber will twist and warp.  Its unstable, and it stinks when you saw it.  There is very little grain distinction and has a lot of sapwood.  We make RR ties out of it and the rest goes into pallet. 

[Okrafarmer]

Black gum lumber will twist and warp.  Its unstable, and it stinks when you saw it.  There is very little grain distinction and has a lot of sapwood.  We make RR ties out of it and the rest goes into pallet. 

So in that respect it's kind of like sweetgum, I guess, only it doesn't smell as good.

"I know his uses, and they are few." -Denathor, Lord of the Rings trilogy.

[Magicman]

The Tupelo family, Nyssa, actually has three native subspecies.  Black=Nyssa Sylvatica, Water Tupelo=Nyssa Aquatica, and Swamp Tupelo=Nyssa Sylvatica Var Biflora, but they are very closely related.  Another common name is "Sour Gum".  In Mississippi, the Tupelo's are mostly found in the Western river areas and Black in the Eastern more hilly areas.   I've sawed it to be used as paneling.  The grain ties together well and it is used for carvings.  Black and Tupelo Gum are the "go to" wood for carving dough bowls.

This one is 14"X24" and is easily 75 years old.
 


Many biscuits have been made in that old bowl. 

[trapper]

I beleive honey from Tupelo never hardens into sugar

[ellmoe]

We've sawed black gum for the house moving industry. The wood is strong and a beam cut out of it is alot lighter than oak or hickory.

Mark

[Okrafarmer]

We've sawed black gum for the house moving industry. The wood is strong and a beam cut out of it is alot lighter than oak or hickory.

Good to know.

Mark

[chain]

Black gum one of my favorite wildlife 'keeper' trees. Most all larger black gum trees here are fire-scared and hollow. Many have a hi-rise apartment 'look' as dens of three or more holes usually on same side of the tree. Male and female flowers on seperate trees, many years in early August gray squirrles will riddle the berries but other years the berries will fall late making excellent food for deer, turkeys, raccoon, and many other woods creatures. We never allow black gum to be cut.

[SwampDonkey]

Chain, your the keeper of the black gums. 

[chain]

Chain, your the keeper of the black gums.       That, I am. ..It's not like we have groves of BGs. For whatever the reasons these gums are scattered remotely among the oaks, hickory, and pine. Very important tree for wildlife in our forest. But, to answer Magic, yes you should be able to propagate BG from seed, you might try some State forest nurseries this fall. Missouri has a large variety of seedlings, I will try and let you know what is available.

[Magicman]

Thanks.  I haven't seen them in the nurseries here.  Not saying that they aren't here, just haven't seen them.

I'm collecting some berries to plant, but if it takes a male and female tree, then mine are no good.

[LeeB]

http://www.forestry.state.ar.us/seedlingsales_new.htm

[Okrafarmer]

There is another way to get black gums, I'm told: chew tobacco a lot.

[kelLOGg]

Magicman quote:
I'm not having any luck finding a seedling that I can mark and transplant in January.

If you're in Durham next January  drop by and you can dig up dozens of 3 foot seedlings. I have been mowing them annually for decades to keep my pasture/field clear. I've never transplanted one but your description intrigues me.

Bob

[Magicman]

Thanks for the offer.  Probably won't be, but     anyway.

[SwampDonkey]

Talking about sprouting new trees. There is a guy trying to sell his old house trailer and he's too far away to do lawn maintenance, works thinning on our crew, and the lawn is now populated with new root suckered aspen trees about 4 feet tall after this summer.

[Magicman]

The largest living thing in the world is supposed to be an Aspen in Utah.  That's a bunch of suckering.

[Jasperfield]

Because it's very difficult to split, people used to make wagon (and cart) wheels from it.
It cannot be split with a go-devil.

And, they are good wildlife trees. Almost every large mature tree is hollow. The bark looks similar to large sourwoods, but the Blackgums grow much larger in diameter.

[Magicman]

My old "out the back window" Black Gum has about lost all of it's leaves.  My interest in Black Gum is not because of any particular beauty.  Sure, it's the first tree to show color in the Fall, but the entire tree is never red.  It's a gradual thing.  Some turn red and then fall off while the rest are still green.  The tree just gradually becomes bare.  This old gal still has a few green leaves, but most have already turned and fallen.
 


Compared with the Cherrybark Red Oak on it's right which has no turned leaves yet.