Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
ditas_gw

So you really want to grow a Gingko tree?

ditas
14 years ago

Hello Gingko tree lovers - *A picture speaks a thousand words* we all say ... I'm a bit short for words, so please, I invite you & let me tell you in several thousands of words ... through my yet, unfinished 2009 Gingko tree album.

I have drank quite a bit of tea ... I guess a bit of sympathy will greatly help!

I hope this post will help you, as well, decide!

Thank you for viewing!!! Â;)

Here is a link that might be useful: My 30 year old Prince is a Duchess!

Comments (44)

  • lkz5ia
    14 years ago

    Nice looking tree you've got there, I can't wait until mine start fruiting.

  • perennialfan273
    14 years ago

    Well, at least you can compost all the mess.

  • whaas_5a
    14 years ago

    I thought the moral of the story was not to purchase a female cultiver, lol!

  • eukaryote
    14 years ago

    I think they're pretty cool, but maybe I would be of a different opinion if the pictures could be accompanied by the aroma.

  • generator_00
    14 years ago

    I read somewhere that they can morph from male to female. Apple trees can really make a mess as well, though probably not as stinky. Oh well you can always ask for a chainsaw for Christmas.

  • brandon7 TN_zone7
    14 years ago

    "I thought the moral of the story was not to purchase a female cultiv(a)r..."

    ...or to plant females / unknown-sexed trees away from the house. Mine are planted hundreds of feet from where I will eventually build a house, so hopefully never a problem with the smell.

  • jean001
    14 years ago

    Too late for this year but next year announce to the local Asian community that you have free ginkgo fruits for the collecting. Folks will show up with empty buckets and be happy to clean you out.

  • subtropix
    14 years ago

    I was going to say....while we in the USA usually grow only the males and avoid the females, in China, they love the female trees because the fruits (despite the stench) are avidly collected (assume they are believed to have medicinal properties). On the island of Manhattan, just ask the little old Chinese women where to find all the female trees--they know!

  • pineresin
    14 years ago

    That's some collection there! Ditto to Jean and NJOasis, your local Chinese and/or Japanese communities will be delighted to help out.

    Resin

    PS spellcheck: Ginkgo ;-)

  • ditas
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thank you everyone for viewing & responding ... I don't feel so alone now!!!

    pineresin - thanks for the spell check! njoasis' & your suggestions sounds great ... someone in town suggested to get in touch with the Asian organizations here as well ... I thought she was kidding ... to think that I had 21 bags hauled away!

    I recently found a most wonderful & informative site *GINKGO PAGES* created by Cor Kwant, a Hi-sch teacher in the Netherlands. If you haven't visited ... an award winning, top notch place to go & get educated!!! Â;)

    Whaass & 1kz5ia - This very young handsome (perfectly shaped) Ginkgo tree was planted over 30 years ago, by a well reputed tree nursery ... in good faith, that it was a none-fruit bearing Ginkgo. For 20 years he ruled, even against all the equally handsome Pin-Oaks in the neighborhood! On his 21st Autumn he produced a few & the production increased over the years!

    eukaryote - Perhaps someday, but not in my lifetime ... someone will come up w/ a *scratch & sniff* pics to share, over the internet huh? I think the colder clime like ours, tames down the putrid smell ... a bit tollerable.

    Generator - I don't complain much about the backaches lest Santa might indeed, stick one in my stocking! So far, she had only 3 bumper-crop years out of the past 10 ... & was completely spared 2 or 3 years in between ... could it be she gets worn out after a good year?! My grandkids miss the fun sliding on her golden & slippery pile of leaves!

    Brandon - I remember you read the *Prince Ginkgo* essay I posted in another thread, earlier, right? I was just gonna suggest as you did ... & never to create gardens around her site ... no Pachysandra-ground-cover under her canopy nor a wall of Ivy ... their foliage too similar when Ginkgo seedlings come up to be pulled ... aside from the pains of collecting fruits under their tangled mat. 2005 was a yr to remember ... I pulled hundreds & hundreds of ft-tall seedlings from the Ivy bed!!!

    This aft'noon was spent cleaning out under her canopy 2-5gal buckets full & a couple of plant pots ... there are still hundreds clinging up there but she drops them just a handful at a time now. The wonder of wonders though ... all those days I raked & collected as she pommelled down ... not a one, putrid fruit fell on me ... she does have a conscience ... my Prince turned Duchess!!! Â;)

    Again, many thanks for the company!!!

  • hortster
    14 years ago

    I planted an "unknown" ginkgo of the time in my yard in 1978 (31 years ago) as a remembrance for my first kid. It had been in the field for probably 5 or 6 years already when I had it dug at the nursery. I since have moved twice in the area, but occasionally go by and check the tree and to this day it has remained fruitless. I took that original chance because it 1) could be male, and 2) has lived as a genus for millions of years. To some, the odoriferus fruit is worth the nut; to some, if you plant a female you are nuts. Hey, ya'll, there is a plus and minus, a positive and negative, a female and a male, a yang and a yin to everything. Gingko represents a prime subject for this concept. Ginkgoes are great trees, trouble free pretty much, male or female. Love 'em!
    hortster

  • ditas
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Hi t'is me again - I called the Asian Alliance/Community in our area ... no takers - so I went ahead & bagged for disposal today, perhaps the last 20+ gallons of fruits. These past few days could be my last attempts at clean-up. I have yet to get all the cages for my tender-bloomer-Hydrangeas ready ... hard freeze days are just around the corner!

    Today she dropped a gal-potful after a gust of wind/rain that past thru briefly. Perhaps just another hundred+ still clinging loyally ... I can breathe easier now & concentrate on my over-wintering chores!

    ??? please ... would any of you know, any adverse effects, of the sticky Ginkgo fruits' juice on the grass & plants under her fruit-loaded limbs? The grassy area around, got so thin from all the raking!

    Do take a peek at the last photo, the 5-gal, HD bucketful is strictly collected from the Pachysandra cover around her foot!!! I'll forego the Ivy wall & bed ... will just pull seedlings in 2010 & on!!!

    Here is a link that might be useful: The last few gallons!

  • kudzu9
    14 years ago

    I'm looking on the bright side: I'll probably be dead by the time mine fruits!

  • ditas
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    G'morning Kudzu - Don't be too sure ... a few I have read about, fruited sooner!!! How old is yours ... I'll keep my fingers crossed, your heir will truly love the beautiful Ginkgo tree, as much as I do & be willing to do the *Purgatory Time* I spend for mine w/o any rancor!!! Â;) The wonder of wonders for me still, after all the bumper-crop years ... no matter how she pommelled, the putrid fruits down, not a single one has hit my head yet ... 1 or 2 might have rolled down softly on my back!!! I believe on my tree's conscience & Ginkgo angels!!! LOL

    I'm curious of your log-on name, *Kudzu* ... my son lived in TN & now in NC ... I've read so much about this plant ,,, the pros & the cons, do you grow them?

    Have you posted photos of your bamboo collection? Would love to view them ... lucky you able to grow them!!!

  • brandon7 TN_zone7
    14 years ago

    The pros of Kudzu. LOL. Now there's an optimist!

    You don't grow Kudzu; you fight to keep it from swallowing you alive.

  • ditas
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Hey brandon7 - When first I visited TN many years ago, Kudzu brought me to tears & told my 2 young grands. then to go into Horticulture w/ special studies on Kudzu control. They moved to NC & saw the same killing invasion over there!

    When i returned home I googled & viewed the photos far worse than what I have seen, personally over there ... I kept going to different sites every now & then to follow, w/ hopes of new *scientific-break-through* ... as I do about my beloved Ginkgo ... here's a what I found in the *TNJN - Kudzu: A problem vine we can work with ...* Is this truth or myth?

    The worst invaders I deal w/: Periwinkle, Archangel Lamium & a neighbors Virginia Creeper, oh & I'm still pulling a few insistent Bishop's Weed ... none of them have yet swallowed gardeners alive!!! LOL

    Ciao!

  • lkz5ia
    14 years ago

    ditas, you can grow bamboo too, it just might be more like perennial and die to ground every year. Mine usually stay green into december or january, but by march they have died back to the ground, but I have young plantings though. Here is one that started from 1 gallon pot and has gone through 4 growing seasons.
    {{gwi:474990}}

  • ditas
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thank you lkz5ia - Wow I love what you've got there! This species didn't die back through 4 seasons ... which one is it so I can learn more about it? I assume they require quite a bit of sun, huh? Oh, & what a beautiful setting you have, as well!!! Â;)

    Again, thank you for responding re: bamboo search, in my Ginkgo post!!! Â;) In our piece of soil I have surrounded us w/ plants/bushes in remembrances & in memories of our loved ones, so far away from us. My youngest brother recently past on, over the great divide. I dug up a huge Plantagenia w/ plans to plant in spring, in his memory ... of one on our fence line, that gets AM sun & dappled, otherwise ... between an Ivory Halo-Cornus Alba & Alice-Oakleaf Hydrangea.

    TIA!!!

  • ditas
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Hi again ... Just took a break from over-wintering my few *Garden Divas* ... picked up just a bucketful more of the last few hundreds, still clinging tight!

    Just so you don't get too shy about growing one (nor too sorry for moi), here's a fun year, Fall of '07! 3 good yrs perhaps, out of the 10 & the earlier years, weren't as bad as this '09! The 1st bad year was in '05 ... gzzzilion tinier fruits ... I still see tons of dried-up nutshells under the canopy sites (Pachysandra & Ivy wall/bed).

    FWIW thanks for viewing!

    Here is a link that might be useful: When she was 28 ... it was a very good year!!!

  • ditas
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    "tis me again - Finally the *Fruit Collecting Business* has slowed down ... just a mere 3 #1gal- potsfull this week ... would you believe I actually counted this time ... each potful holds 450-480 fruits. I just want to make sure that St Peter knows, I was keeping tract of my *Purgatory Time*. Just a few more stubbornly, clinging up there ... perhaps around a hundred!

    If I didn't have a tiny Pom that needs to go out, I wouldn't bother ... I'll just pull seedlings later. I have to wipey up her paws as I ended up w/ a gradually worsening *Contact Dermatitis* from the fruits' putrid-sticky-nectar ... just my luck!!!

    I kept blaming the tiny bumps & itches, to seasonal dry skin ... however the pattern, from above the gloves line to below the elbows, legs just above the socks & the knees as well from kneeling, (as I enslaved to these manna from Lady Ginkgo) ... quiet convincing!!! My kids are strongly suggesting, what I have been dreading ... I'll see another year ... perhaps Science will have an answer or another bumper-crop year, will just be too much for my old back!!! Â:(

    FWIW ...thanks for reading ... Happy Holiday Season to all!!! Â;)

  • ditas
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thank you Brandon for this info that I should be exploring more on. You were really wise to plant your 2 trees away from the site, of your intended home!!! How long have you had your *magnificent* Ginkgo trees? Have they given you a respite-year in your Zone?

    I have just recently found & visited *GINKGO PLACES* ... a site of very thorough wisdoms, on GINKGO BILOBA ... as busy as I got since end of Sept. fruit picking, I haven't had the chance to be as informed & learned more.

    30 yrs ago, I decided on this beauty, on purely aesthetic, emotional & symbolic reasons, as I do, for most of the lovelies growing around me ... as Sinatra sang ... *Regrets ... I have a few, but then again ... too few to mention* ... I'm sure I've a few more than that & am dealing w/ them w/ a *Brave Heart*!!! LOL ... that's the beauty of *Trowel & Error* of gardening!!! Â;)

    Just a swerve: I've fallen for TN when my son lived in J City ... Cumberland Gap & the on-foot-climb to (Tri-State) Pinnacle ... glorious!!!

  • brandon7 TN_zone7
    14 years ago

    I actually have a number of ginkgos at two properties. At the property where I plan to build a house, the trees are small and won't fruit for years. At the other property, the trees do fruit much more heavily some years than others. I never have gathered up/removed the fruit (there the trees are in a planted woods type situation), but I don't think any individual tree produces as much fruit as yours has.

    Did you mean The Ginkgo Pages? That site does have a lot of info.

    Here is a link that might be useful: The Ginkgo Pages

  • ditas
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Ooooops ... *Ginkgo Pages* is exactly the wonderful site I meant. After the Holidays are over I'll get to the site & learn more. I really do not want to give up on this beautiful tree, until I'll absolutely have to ... will arm myself w/ Benadryl spray & Saran wrap!!! LOL

    The few years she gave me a rest, were those, when March would come like a Lamb & leave like a Lion ... & lingering with weeks of sub-freezing temps! Last April we did have a couple of nights that made her drop millions of young buds ... not long enough to stop any more production.

    Also, I had 3 huge limbs, cut down the prior Fall, to allow more sun in my garden beds ... I thought perhaps, she came back with a vengeance ... she grew tons of young branchlets & each held tons of fruits ... some are still up there in clusters to date!

    Thanks again very much, for your patience in reading my copious posts!!! Â;)
    &&& Wow ... for braving so may fruit-bearing Ginkgo trees - I was just imagining a forest of nothing but Ginkgo growing!!!

  • ladede
    14 years ago

    I really love the tree the way it looks and "was" going to get one. The nursery assured me its male. I just plain ole chickened out. I know me and I hate smelly things.

  • ladede
    14 years ago

    they said it was male but with my luck it would be a girl and make seeds.

  • brandon7 TN_zone7
    14 years ago

    Chances of getting a female tree marked as a male cultivar from a reputable nursery are very small. And, if you did, you could always have the tree removed when it started fruiting. If you are that worried about something that unlikely, don't even consider driving or going out in public where you might catch a disease!

  • whaas_5a
    14 years ago

    ditas, your just scaring people out getting a Gingko! lol

    As someone had mentioned, they don't always fruit heavily and may never for that matter.

  • ditas
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    *ditas, your just scaring people out getting a Gingko!*

    Mea Culpa to everyone, if I have ... I just meant to have people, think, research & do a lot of soul-searching before plunging head-on, simply for the beauty & love of the mystical, exotic foliage it grows & not to speak of his/her regal bearing!!! Loving this majestic beauty of a tree, is not a flimsy-whimsy-fanciful kind of love ... 'tis a loyal, committed & reverential kind!

    When my kids suggested to, perhaps, put down, my *Prince-Duchess* ... they were just thinking of me! If I had known, what I know now, I'd still grow a Ginkgo Tree ... just plant it a distance farther & not create garden beds, around it's potential canopy's reaches ... oh, & away enough from your fence/lot-line! Not having this information super-highway 30 years ago, at my fingertips, I trusted our well reputed, nursery owners ... they planted a handsome youngster of a Ginkgo tree in good faith (both father & son owners, have since passed on)! Metaphorically speaking, it'll kill me to even think, to cut my Prince-Duchess down!!! To those who have not seen this tree in Autumn ... w/ all the right combination of rain, sun & calm winds his/her golden-yellow cloak glows ... breath-taking is the word!!!

    My intent was to warn & challenge!!! As I've posted earlier, above, I've had some good years in-between, these past ten. In our colder zone, the putrid smell is not overwhelming, even on windy days, unless you take it close to your nose. I use disposable hospital gloves & wear boots that I leave outdoors.

    Brandon ... Isn't it wonderful that potential owners can feel secure with some form of warranty on a male tree?!

  • ladede
    14 years ago

    I was going to get one and the nursery guy just kept telling me it would cost more, 2x. Second time he said I will have to charge you more I just dropped him and went to another landscaping co. They could not say if their trees were girls or boys lol

  • alexander3_gw
    14 years ago

    I just got the new One Green World catalog, which lists 4 named varieties of female Ginkgos. They write "some people consider the husk around the nut to have an unpleasant odor when ripe". That's putting it mildly!

    Out of curiosity, is the smell not considered unpleasant in some cultures?

    Alex

  • ditas
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    *Out of curiosity, is the smell not considered unpleasant in some cultures?*

    I'd like to take a stub at this in a simplistic way ... realizing that it will trigger a good conversation. Starting with food, I believe ... having been exposed to a number of them, in the years I have lived & places I've visited ... every country & ethnicity have enjoyed dishes of varied ingredients (fruits, veggies, spices,& critter-meats of sorts) w/ relish ... as varied as we are, react differently as well. At times, even growing up with unpleasant tastes & smells to one could be delectable to the closest blood relation. As the saying goes ... *someone's junk is another's treasure*!

    The Ginkgo nuts are called jewels by some & thoroughly enjoyed as delicacy. After I read from a site discussing the preparation of the nuts as snacks or ingredient in cuisines ... this time around I collected about a quart of nuts (separated from their protective fleshy fruit) to try some suggestions for use. However I suspected allergic reaction to the fleshy fruit ... as Brandon posted above:

    *Ginkgo fruits contain a low level of urushiol (the same nasty stuff that makes poison ivy so bad).*

    I backed off ... may just feed them to my frequent Squirrel visitors this Winter! I'm not normally an allergic individual ... so may still brave & try after the holidays, w/ Benadryl in readiness ... just in case!

    The best description I can share of the smell ... if any of you have at one time or other, forgotten a baby formula in your car, for a couple of days, parked in the sun ... imagine what you'll smell as you empty the bottle in your sink!!!

    Visit the site that Brandon added as a link, on one of his above posts ... very informative for the *Inquiring Mind*!!! Â;)

    FWIW

  • nick_b79
    14 years ago

    The one thing I can't stop thinking when I see those pictures is: how is the ginkgo NOT a naturalized/invasive species by now? Other than numerous seedlings I've found growing in the mulch under the parent trees, I've never found one growing wild. Are there no animals that distribute these in North America?

  • ditas
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    I've been wondering about that as well ... my frequent Squirrel guests do not touch the fruits at all, even if they do crack a few nuts ... they must take the ones that drop loosened from the pulp. Like you all the seedlings I have harvested are just around the tree's canopy.

    Someone posted in another thread, that he noticed some wilder critters ... Possums or Raccoons perhaps, spit up the seeds or perhaps pass them up whole & all he does is clean up/scoop up in bunches! Since the fruits do smell like double curdled milk ... not even the birds w/ out the sense of taste or smell do not care for them ... I noticed Flies & Butterflies love their juice.

    These Ginkgo fruits, I understand were delicacies or staples of veggie-eating Dinosaurs ... no help there for us huh!!! LOL The Chipmunks ... survivor of the Dino time don't seem to care at all for them either ... we're out of luck ... just grin & bear it is all!

  • slimwhitman
    14 years ago

    If your enjoying/learning from this discussion...here is another one that talks about the male vs female aspects of the Ginkgo.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Ginkgo thread on Gardenweb

  • amccour
    14 years ago

    Ginkgo fruit just smells like overripe cheese. Nothing really bad. You smell it, it's sort of sharp, you walk by, and it's gone.

    Bradford Pears, on the other hand, smell far worse. Just in general, they do. I can't even describe what they smell like. Additionally, it's like... an oily sort of smell that carries. It gets into your sinus cavities and doesn't leave. It ruins your day because once you smell them you can't unsmell them without a good night's sleep.

    I'd take ginkgoes any day of the week. We have both female ginkgoes and bradford pears on campus, and the ginkgo smell doesn't induce a violent gag reflex in me.

  • ditas
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    amccour - I didn't realize that *Bradford Pear* trees have unpleasant odor that they emit. Many newer neighborhoods are lined up with them in their curbs!

    All our State Us as well, have grown Ginkgo Trees that provided both aesthetic beauty as well as shade ... however many students complained & as the trees increased in fruit production over the years they gave-in to the student's requests to put down the female ones.

    I've heard of a wonderful story, of a dorm door decorated w/ Ginkgo leaves & a knock from a passing-by student, in awe of the leaves ended up in marriage later on ... I just hope they graduated as well!!! Â;)

    I just wonder why it took so long (20 yrs) for mine, to let me know her true nature? I Hope I can eventually get desensitized to the allergen *urushiol* in the fruit pulp.

  • ActionClaw (Northern Ohio zone:5a/5b)
    13 years ago

    I understand many steer clear of Gingko trees due to the alleged problems from the fruit. If it's only a matter of a bit of stink and/or mess, I'm not much bothered. What I'm more concerned to know is if this stinky fruit and nut mess is accompanied by juglone-like allelopatic effects. I'm already dealing with the nightmare of several huge old Black Walnut trees and have no interest in further compounding the problem.

    The article "Potential Allelopathy in Different Tree Species" lists Gingko as having "moderate allelopathic effect" BUT then so are many other, what I've always thought to be, benign/friendly/harmless trees.

    Has anyone personally observed any such problems?

    If not, would anyone be willing to share some of their stinky mess with me (seeds or seedling) so that I can grow me own?
    Of course I'll pay (reasonable) shipping charges.

    Thanks

  • dsieber
    13 years ago

    I dunno once you have seen how amazing a 100+ year old Ginko tree looks like you can not hesitate to not plant one I have planted 4 (2???? sex 2 males) at each house I have owned. I moved after seeing them grow less than a foot. It feels good that maybe at least one of them will be 100 years old due to an open minded owners who puts up with any litter smell..

  • richardus
    13 years ago

    I didn't want to open a new thread just for a single question. So, I've managed a seed to germinate and now it looks like this:

    {{gwi:474991}}

    i.e i assume it is only the root forming now and the leaves still haven't come out (i might talk nonsense, i'm an amateur). Mine is in germinating in potting soil, not the paper towel medium.

    The question is whether I can move it to a pot this point without upseting the little thing and damaging it at such an early stage?

  • brandon7 TN_zone7
    13 years ago

    Richardus,

    Feel free to start new threads. Unless your question is very similar to the original post in a thread, it's often less confusing to start a new one. Starting a new one also means that you'll get notices about responses to your question instead of them going to someone else's email account.

    About moving your newly sprouted seeds...ginkgos are tough and, as long as you are gentle, there shouldn't be any problem with moving them now. I've done it many times and have never lost a single one from transplanting small seedlings.

  • ditas
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Hi ~ I initiated this very long discussion thread 2 years ago & just now checked in as I just read an article from our Iowa DNR I quote a line:
    *The problem, though, is occasionally male trees undergo a metamorphosis and begin dropping smelly seeds. That's what Robinson suspects happened to an Iowa City tree after decades without problems.*

    ... Answers my original wonderment & still was once more a slave to this Duchess in my piece of soil last Fall. I still have the bucket of dried seeds to dare & saute & try - considering my allergy to fruit pulp!

    Currently all the fallen fruits in my thick wall of Baltic Ivy have grown to little Ginkgo trees & am harvesting ~ easy to pull at this stage so far. Last year there was a taker to the 2ft tall I had growing in a pot, hurray!!!

    I love my once Prince of a handsome tree now Duchess that rules my life in the Fall!
    FWIW

  • thumblessprimate
    12 years ago

    Hi Dita. Your 30 yr ol' Duchess, at what age did she start producing fruit? Do you have more than one tree? I can't view your picture.

    I have two trees, and I just learned about grafted male versions and stinky fruit on females. I don't think I'd mind much but one of the the two trees is going to grow over a side walk while the other is also in the front yard. Neighbors won't be pleased if fruit start to appear. Both trees are about 20 years old. No signs of catkins or ovules yet. If they start to produce one day, I just might have to put a chainsaw to them. I hope that mine are by chance both male.

  • ditas
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Sorry for taking so long to return to this thread!

    I'm holding my breath w/ fingers crossed & prayers ~ the jury will be out 'til Fall but hopes are running high! I called an Arborist that offered the solution I've been waiting for ~ a FRUIT INHIBITING HORMONE. He pegged the lower trunk of my Duchess, 4 inches apart around the girth w/ tube dowel pins & injected the hormone treatment through them. He claims that in the first year fruits should deminish by 50% & by the 2nd year should eliminate all production or nearly all!

    Hello thumblessprimate ~ if at this age your trees have not fruited yet you may be fortunate to have a pair of guys. I was told that my tree was much later than usual coming to her true nature. I hope for you as well that they stay fruitless ~ such majestic & historic tree!!!

Sponsored
HEMAX Construction Services & Landscaping, LLC
Average rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars34 Reviews
Innovative & Creative Landscape Contractors Servicing VA