Dear bigreed, Having dilly-dallied on my raking one year, I inadvertently discovered that sweet gum balls keep the slugs and snails away from tasty tender plants. Evidently they are even less fun to crawl over than they are to step on! So, I corral any plant I want left alone, thanking my trees for their "generosity." And, over time, the balls disintegrate into almost a fine powder, leaving me with a use for even more. ( if only I could foist them off on all my neighbors) I hope this is something that can be useful in your world. It does get rid of some of them.

If there is a need for Sweet Gum Balls (or as I call them - dingle balls), I have a large green garden tote (from the garbage company) full of them. This is the third raking this season and there are still thousands of balls on the trees. Love the trees - the balls, not so much.