billevans on sun 6 apr 03

Your talking about "chewing gum" gum balls?
?????

Husband did a final raking of sweet gum balls

Patricia Ruggiero on sun 6 apr 03

Anecdotal evidence, first observations only --

Husband did a final raking of sweet gum balls about one month ago, leaving
them in long windrows in our spotty, weedy lawn, with intention of
collecting them for the compost pile (they provide good aeration). He
didn't have time to do this, and neither did I. Today he showed me how the
grass in the gum ball windrows was taller, thicker, and greener than
elsewhere in that section of the lawn.

Could something as dry and "brown" as old gum balls, plus associated lawn
litter, produce such an effect, and in 3-4 weeks?

Pat

Jason Quick on sun 6 apr 03

Patricia wrote:

> Husband did a final raking of sweet gum balls about one month ago, leaving
> them in long windrows in our spotty, weedy lawn, with intention of
> collecting them for the compost pile (they provide good aeration). He
> didn't have time to do this, and neither did I. Today he showed me how
the
It's possible. I've noticed similar effects when other lawn debris is left
on the lawn for a short time. Could be the fact that the debris retards
evaporation, or maybe its slow decay releases composty type stuff into the
soil, making the grass happy.

Jason

Setzler on mon 7 apr 03

that is what I was going to say. Somehow it might shelter the grass from the
extremes of cold. I wonder, as I have seen the same effect with other "litter"

susan

Jason Quick wrote:

kathryn marsh on mon 7 apr 03

I've noticed it too and wondered whether the effect was caused by moisture
retention under the accidental mulch.

k

Patricia Ruggiero on mon 7 apr 03

Kathryn wrote:

> I've noticed it too and wondered whether the effect was caused by moisture
> retention under the accidental mulch.

Could be; but right about now, with the ground already soggy and heavy rain
falling (over 1" so far today), moisture retention isn't high on the list of
the lawn's priorities, I'm sure.....

Pat

Carol Jensen on mon 7 apr 03

I did a search and sure enough, sweet gum is chewed! Was the only chewing gum for years. You remove the bark and scrape off the gum. One site says it is still the base of chewing gum.

Carol

Tony and Moira Ryan on tue 8 apr 03

Jason Quick wrote:
Jason
I suspect the latter, but it might be combination of the mulch effects
of moisture and feeding. I regularly mulch any hungry-looking grass with
compost which is simply spread on the surface of the lawn. For only a
few days does it look messy and after that it disappears in no time and
the grass greens up.

Of course if one leaves a thick pile of debris any length of time it
simply kills the grass by keeping off the light.

Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ. Pictures of our garden at:-
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm