Ginko Trees

[berwyn senator]

When is Berwyn going to cot down these rotten trees,the little balls that fall to the ground smell like hell.I stepped on one the other day and got into the car,had to really work to clean up the smell.Why in the hell would anyone plant these trees? Calling seems to do no good.

[Port Meadow]

We have one in front of our house. It's a beautiful, hardy tree for about 11 months of the year. In October, it is very smelly. Only the female trees produce the berries, and likely when they planted it decades ago, it was not possible to tell whether it was male or female (insert joke here). Now you can get only male trees.
We try to rake up after the tree each day. Some years it has a bumper crop, and some years it makes barely any. Incidentally, we have had folks collect the berries from time to time for the Gingko seeds, which are used in Asian cooking. And of course the squirrels love it.

[berwynson]

When is Berwyn going to cot down these rotten trees,the little balls that fall to the ground smell like hell.I stepped on one the other day and got into the car,had to really work to clean up the smell.Why in the hell would anyone plant these trees? Calling seems to do no good.

Maybe as bad, or even worse, was the fruiting mulberry across the alley when I was a kid: Mrs. Hoha's husband, (who used the words "G. D.'d") in almost every sentence), always blamed me for all their ills, including the purple staining everywhere, on their trim, sidewalks, etc., from the berries eaten by birds, then later shat out everywhere.

There were nice folks, and not so nice, just as today: 2 doors north, also across the alley, directly behind our house, old man Kratochvil (ever see a more Bohemian name than that?), sluffed it off after I picked every one of his nice concord grapes off the vine on his alley fence, and scattered them all over creation! I was maybe 4, and caught hell for it, but the old guy was not indignant. Good folks. This would have been in about 1946 or so; years later, I met a man of the same name, John Kratochvil, when I started working at Victor Gasket. He lived somewhere at the other end (west) of Berwyn, but I never knew if he was related to the old grape-raiser!

berwynson

[berwyn senator]

I watched people collect those berries,one Asian fellow told me he uses them for the prevention of dementia.Cooking them and then eating the berries,is there any truth to this?The female trees are the stinky ones?yes they are pretty trees but the smell is awful,most of the people with these trees in front of their homes don't clean up the mess! Mulberry fruit were just as bad especially if you owned a white car.The stains from the birds were difficult to remove,as a kid I remember many in Berwyn.Pear,cherry,and apple trees were also  abundant.Horse Chestnut trees,they would produce nuts with thorns that would stick you when picked up,the squirrels loved them.Brookfield Zoo had many of them,we used to pick them up and toss them to the monkeys,if by accident one would get hit by one the monkey would get very upset,creating quite a commotion  in the cage.One monkey started throwing articles at us from the cage,including the pans of water.

[Homebody]

City of Bewyn does not allow fruit bearing trees to be planted on the city parkways. Ginko trees are in that category according to PW Director Schiller. Call Public Works and give them the address.

Marge

[buzz]

So they can do what ?  Chop down a fully mature tree and leave an ugly stump in it's place ?
It's probably been there for 20 yrs. already.
Let the moaners just learn to live with it.

[Homebody]

You obviously do not live near a Ginko tree. I had one in my back yard. I loved it. Once it matured though, the smell was horrible. LIke PUKE! When you walk on the sidewalk and accidently squish one, your shoes now smell like puke. You forget and walk into the house with those shoes and your carpet now smells like puke. You don't have to crush them to smell thair fragrance. Wait and don't pick them up in the fall. After the snow melts, it smells like.........

Three years of living with a mature Ginko (which had been growing for about 10 before it "blossomed") was enough. It had to go. Anyone in the 3rd Ward with a mature one on the parkway can give me a call.

Marge

[buzz]

So use a rake.

[rbain]

Two things:

1. Yes, ginkgo nuts are eaten in Asia. You can buy them in Asian markets.
http://mobile.seriouseats.com/2010/10/the-nasty-bits-gingko-nuts.html

2. Ginkgo trees are gendered. There are male and female trees. Only the fees drop the stinky nuts. Unfortunately it's very hard to tell the difference in young trees, so many females are planted accidentally. If you had a male tree in your yard you had a beautiful, interesting, prehistoric tree with little mess.

[berwyn senator]

Thanks for the most interesting information.

[Port Meadow]

Cleaning up after the tree regularly is key. We might try putting nets under it next fall to make clean-up easier.

[rbain]

The large nut growers in California (almonds, walnuts, etc.) have these amazing machines that unfurl a huge upside down parachute under the tree, and then grab the trunk and shake the tree until the nuts fall into the parachute.
...they're probably a bit pricy, though...

[rbain]

[dukesdad]

Hmmmm, a nut shaker. Sounds fun.

[MRS. NORTHSIDER]

We have one in front of our house. It's a beautiful, hardy tree for about 11 months of the year. In October, it is very smelly. Only the female trees produce the berries, and likely when they planted it decades ago, it was not possible to tell whether it was male or female (insert joke here). Now you can get only male trees.
We try to rake up after the tree each day. Some years it has a bumper crop, and some years it makes barely any. Incidentally, we have had folks collect the berries from time to time for the Gingko seeds, which are used in Asian cooking. And of course the squirrels love it.

There's one on 34th Street (on a city parkway) that I used to walk by regularly when I walked my kids to school throughout the years and I can honestly only think of a few times when the smell almost knocked me down so it seems true that it doesn't always produce large amounts of nuts on a regular basis.  The smell is very nasty I will agree.  If I had one on my parkway I would get rid of it if the city takes them down without a charge. 

[Homebody]

So use a rake.

LOL. You have never had a Ginko tree near your home.

[Bonster]

Where can I find one of these trees?  I want to step on some nuts and smell the puke.





(Not that I like that, I'm just intrigued  )

[watcher]

Where can I find one of these trees?  I want to step on some nuts and smell the puke.

Morton Arboretum
Chicago Botanical Garden
Outside of the Forest Park Library.

[Mrs.Pete]

The male Ginkgo trees are so beautiful. Too bad the female trees were planted so young that the landscaper didn't know the sex of the trees.

[dukesdad]

Where can I find one of these trees?

West side of Harlem between 28th and 31st.