Re: Variegated Sweet Gum


Betsy, you have two options to develop the variegated sweet gum.  

1) take some hard wood cuttings off the branch and start new trees. It is
best to do this with 6" - 8" cuttings on new wood in August.  Make the
cuttings clean by removing half the leaves and dipping them an inch or two
into rooting compound.  Then place the cuttings in sand and keep them
moist for a couple of months until they root.

2) trim away the rest of the tree and let the remaining variegated branch
become the new tree.  You can do this if the branch is at least one third
the diameter of the trunk.  You should also attempt to carefully bend the
branch toward vertical with a rope for 18 months.  After that it should
become straight on its own and replace the original tree trunk.  One
option on this technique is to bend the branch up and gradually rope it
tight to the tree trunk.  After 18 months and the branch stays on its own,
you can carefully remove the existing green tree.

Good Luck!!

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