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by Prince Of Petworth November 16, 2015 at 3:05 pm 18 Comments

stink
Photo by PoPville flickr user bajidc

Speaking of stink – let’s hope the spraying helped… Anyone else starting to encounter this seasonal unpleasantness? Is it not as bad as previous seasons? Fortunately in a couple weeks we should get some awesome fallen leaf photos.

jaybird

The tree in front of my house on the 1300 block of Corcoran is loaded. I think we’re about half way through the stink and mess. The spray was a bust for us this year.
Boomer

Anyone else think these don’t smell that bad? Especially compared to cigarette smoke, diesel fumes, trash trucks, all the other urban smells we get every day.
- jaybird
  
  A mixture of dog shit and vomit is what I’m thinking.
- mod
  
  They smell like vomit. I think vomit smells worse than all of those urban smells.
  .
  They’re particularly odiferous at New Hampshire and Riggs.
  - neighbor
    
    Ugh, yes. It’s sooooo bad on Riggs between 18th and New Hampshire. I avoid that block at all costs. It’s also pretty bad all up Corcoran.
    - Anon
      
      I live on Corcoran and I walk in the middle of the street to avoid them. It’s AWFUL, particularly on the corner of Corcoran and 19th.
- wdc
  
  Hm… interesting question.
  I find gingko berries pretty much in the middle of the urban stink scale. Worse than garbage on all but the hottest, wettest days. But not as bad as bum piss in alleys.
  I guess the stink registers, but it doesn’t offend, because no one is to blame. Bum piss offends me.
  - binpetworth
    
    Yep, I’d rank them in the middle of the stink scale as well, but there are some stretches of road that I cannot avoid stepping on these stinko berries, which means the stench follows me (I’m pointing at you, Spring Rd!)
  - justinbc
    
    Bum piss is definitely worse. 14th and Columbia NW area and 8th and H St NE areas in particular.
- justinbc
  
  I think they’re worse. Especially when I used to live on Corcoran and couldn’t help but track a small bit inside every time and have to immediately clean it off.
As If

the level of stink in mount pleasant is as bad as previous seasons, as far as i can smell.
Anon

I’ve encountered a few of these trees recently on my runs around Brookland. They smell pretty bad.
TinkerTaylor

Monroe St NW between 14th and 16th is lined almost entirely with Gingkos. Every year I forget and have to adjust my route to use Park or Newton instead when the berries are dropping.
hupster

The part of Georgetown just west of Rose Park is reeking as well, although I think it has already peaked.
neighbor

I’d never encountered ginkgo berries before moving to DC, and I lived on Corcoran at 17th St when I first moved here. For a few weeks, I thought my block must just be a really popular vomiting spot for drunk folks. I figured it out eventually.

That is to say, that block reeks.
Planner

I won’t pretend the scent is pleasant, but at least it comes with something very nice- the ginkgos in full fall color are spectacular. (Can’t say that about bum piss or bro vomit.)
For the fall display, I can put up with some stink.
(Yes I have lived among them… not currently put for several years in the past. It’s not nice, but you learn to deal; take your shoes off when entering your apt, otherwise you track the stuff all over your place.)
CJ

Word of advice, if these get on your car get them cleaned off ASAP.

A few years ago I left my car under a ginko when I went on my two week honeymoon and came back to a $2k paint / restoration job.
- sproc
  
  Especially now that street cleaning is over and people leave their cars in one spot for longer periods. As of yesterday afternoon, there was a car on the notorious 1700 block of Corcoran parked right under a tree that looked like it has been there a while. It looks like it was attacked by thousands of seagulls.

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