Well, I'm hoping that I won't have the gumballs to deal with. I didn't see any evidence of the seedpods when I inspected the tree. I cannot find if this is a dimorphic tree or a self-pollinating. If it's dimorphic, I'm in luck as there's not another sweetgum in about a 5 mile radius. Self pollinating.. I'm kinda screwed. Maybe I'll have a free day or two during the summer and I'm totally bored (yea right) and I can go out w/my long handled pruner & cut off as many of the gumballs as I can.
As far as my foundation, I'm not too worried. I have what is called a "floating" foundation. My basement is made up of concrete slabs, each 4'x8'. They built many many houses in my area during the early 80s that way because of the shifting sand. My house has long since settled and it'd be years before the roots would 1) make it under the house as it's about 10' down and 2) be big enough to do any kind of damage to the house. Plus the tree would probably only have a 20 year lifespan (dry, desiccating winds during the winter, extreme cold/hot snaps where there's a 50+ degree difference between the low of the day & the high of the day, etc. For instance, today it's in the 90s, but last night it was about 51 degrees).
Val - Poplar trees are evil. Totally evil. My aspen that was chopped down was very close to a poplar as far as the root system and basic tree shape.. EVIL trees. That whole family of trees (cottonwoods, aspen, & poplars) are bad trees. And I'm a tree hugger!
