NEWS
Our Facility – Trimming Season
September 4, 2024
What are we trimming?
Liquidambar styraciflua: American sweetgum
Liquidambar, commonly referred to as Sweetgum, is a deciduous tree that provides northern California with a rare fall foliage color spectacle ranging from orange/yellow to red/purple. You may be familiar with their small spiky balls from childhood play! They grow up to 75 ft tall and their distinctly conical shape is often used for windbreaks. Since the roots of these trees grow deep instead of wide, you’ll find them planted along sidewalks and other paved areas as they are not known to damage the surrounding hardscape. These tall colorful trees have many benefits.
On the grounds of our 40,000 sq ft warehouse facility, we have upwards of 30 of these Sweetgum trees. By the looks of it, 26 of them were planted as a windbreak around the perimeter of the warehouse. We are located in south Santa Rosa in a windy corridor between the San Pablo Bay and Bodega Bay, CA.
Last year, after a heavy windstorm, we had to pull a large branch off our delivery van. Fortunately, only the top of the van and the windshield were affected.
We also have 4 beautifully mature Sweetgum trees in front of our offices. They provide essential shade for our west facing office windows. Every 5 years or so, we need to prune these trees away from our stairwell so their gumballs do not become a hazard. Also, left to their own devices, their branches become long and gangly and they will begin to self-prune over time. (that’s a polite way of saying that they will drop broken branches)
This past summer, we’ve picked up numerous branches and are noticing others that are hanging heavy. A sure sign that they are ready for another pruning!
We’re not going to let this beautiful resource go to waste, however. We’ll use the chipping from our smaller branches as mulch for our GeoPot garden to keep the weeds down.
This year, with the growth of our Redwood Mushroom Supply business, we will be utilizing the larger logs from our trimming to grow some wood loving mushrooms!
According to ThrivingEarthFarm.com, “not only do mushrooms produce quickly on Sweetgum logs, but they also produce in abundance and with longevity. From our experience, they produce for about 3-4 years depending on log diameter.” Even though these guys are in the humid lands of Tennessee, we’re going to inoculate some logs and see how they do here in Sonoma County.
Stay tuned for our methods and results as we put Shiitake, Turkey Tail, Reishi, Oyster and Lion’s Mane to the test!
