watermaple, your probably talking about the honeylocust. The species we are talking about isn't the pain in the ankle which you received.

kdg6,
I cannot remember a spring in which the abundant Black Locust in PA did not bloom. It may be that occasionally an individual tree fails to bloom, but in general all Black Locust bloom every year.

Here they become partly defoliated by a small black and yellow beetle, but the trees still seem to thrive.

Black Locust is considered an invasive exotic plant in many regions of the US. But here in central PA we are in or very close to its native range. Here it appears in old fields, roadsides, areas with poor soil and can form large single-species stands. However, it is replaced by other trees that grow in the light shade cast by locust and locusts are few and far between in mature forests.

I am having a locust tree cut down to put up an above ground pool. The tree guy said he would grind the trunk and all visible roots. Do I need to worry about deeper roots causing problems?

Locust versus poo. No, no sympathy here.

hi. i live in southwestern PA and was wondering if anyone knows where i can find a purple robe locust. i have been trying to find one of these trees for a long time now with no luck. i have checked every nursery that i know of and even all the online nurseries. if anyone knows where i can find one or if someone would be willing to ship one for a fellow locust fan please email me. thanks.

Greenman I believe forestfarm.com has them. Just search for Robinia or locust, it will come up.

I hate to let this very long and interesting thread on the black locust die. We have 70 year old black locusts in our backyard. They provide pleasant, dappled shade and fragrant flowers in the late spring. The tiny leaves do not need to be raked in the fall.

I wonder if any of you have suggestions for crops or plants that grow well in the black locust understory? I planted some asparagus this spring, with the theory that the late leafing black locust would allow a spring crop like this to get going. We also have an apple tree that is not huge but seems to do okay. Does anyone else have experience along these lines?

FYI: locust trees (black are native to east) are some of the first to grow back after disturbances - pioneer trees - they are also legumes which means they basically make beans are fix nitrogen into the soil enriching the soil for whatever trees come next. I used to not appreciate this tree but, even though they're scrappy, they're quite useful.

I have locust trees in my yard, hay field, along the road, ect. A pain in the butt.I also like them too ! But I thought the Black locust had very long thorns and the honey locust had thorns that looked more like rose thorns, not over an inch or two with bark similar to an osage orange.Can some one set me straight ?

Hello. i have been trying to root my local saplings this summer, into pots. no luck yet. latest attempt was this morn.
I want them in pots for what you all might find as an odd reason.
I find the saplings randomly in lower Orange county NY where I have a weekend house. I live and work mostly in NYC. Around the building I live in, are tree pots. We've found that when we plant 'pretty' trees like birch, cedars or whatever, they are soon stolen. We've always assumed by cheapscate urban arseholes who want them for free, on their rooftops or backyards, or even biggertime arseholes who steal them to put up for sale to other unscrupulous arseholes for profit. Arseholes either way.
Sooo, i've been trying to find less desireable, but interesting alternatives. Hawthorn saplings are not as pretty, but are abundant in my woods, look nice, and seem to do well. I also love the woodsy pricker bushes, the ones that turn yellow each fall. Now i'm expirementing with black Locusts. Pretty leaves and those undesireable 'thorns'! Keep the unwanted hands away. We'll see how they last, once I get a sapling started and repotted.
I'm thinking of growing poison ivy in the pots if all else fails!

I have an 80+ foot Black Locust in my front yard that I need to have taken down. I think this is a great tree, nice shade and no-rake leaves but it has a narrow crotch and due to it's age and size I'm concerned that it will fall during a storm. I already had one the same size fall and hit my house a couple of winters ago.

I know that the wood is valuable but does anyone know someone who may be interested? They can have all of the wood for the cost of taking it down.

To get rid of the suckers you need to be VERY persistant with the Round-up and clippers. Took 3 years to mostly eliminate the ones from the tree that fell.

hill_digger,
I think you have it backwards. Black Locust has small, rose-like thorns, while Honey locust has long, very dangerous -looking throns.

I just bought a Robinia Ambigua "Purple Robe" Idaho Locust from Home Depot last week and planted it on the west side of my property. It has been windy this past week and it has been bombarded by both wind and the sun (there is no shade in that part of my yard). I think I have also overwatered it, since I notice the ground is wet everyday. I use a drip irrigtation system that runs for 30 minutes at 5am. The leaves are droopy and yellow and some are crunchy and withering because of the sun. Is there any hope left? Please help. Thank you.

i have 3 very large black locust trees on my property here in eastern oregon. i have heard many people berate these trees, but since moving here 15 years ago, i have grown to love them. i call them "Larry, Curly, and Mo". many birds enjoy these trees, especially one pair of magpies, who come back every year to raise offspring in a large nest they built way up in Curly. (many people berate magpies, too, but i love them also)

i am concerned about this beetle that has been mentioned. is it the same one that has done so much damage to pine trees in the blue mountains in this area? if my trees are infested, what should i look for? and is there anything i can do to keep the beetle away, or get rid of it if it is already in my trees?

My Dad has a huge honey locust tree. A hurricane blew the fist one down,now he has 2 in its place. I've always been fascinated by this tree. The torns are in clusters and are huge. It grows lots seed pods every year. Farmer friends use to stop and ask if they could have the pods. They would feed their livestock. My daughter took one to school for music class. She also took one to class yesterday and another today to open up for all her classmates to see(kindergarten). Even the teachers had never heard of them before. Never seen another one anywhere near, we live in North Carolina. I collect them and feed our deer and all of our other wildlife. I've still got 5 to 6 wheelbarrell loads to go. There was a man that made locust beverage from them many years ago. He has pasted on now. I would love to know all the uses for these pods.

I'm a bit confused with the various types of Black vs Honey Locust. I have been in love with the wonder scent from the flowers for a long time and hope to plant one at my home.

First of all what are the differenced between types? I know they sell one type at the nursery but I think it will not flower. Which type would it be good to plant near a sidewalk or brick walkway? I have a fig tree about 15 feet away - do you think it will create too much shade? Any advise is appreciated. thanks in advance! Ken

I have many locust trees coming up & would like to transplant them. Is it ok to do at this time of year (late June) or do I wait for fall. Any tips on this or other procedures for success in this?

I transplanted some locust trees over Memorial Day weekend, and they are doing fine. I usually try to wait for early spring or the fall, but when I have some sprouting in areas that I mow often I will transplant them whenever they come up. I figure that if I'm going to mow them off anyway there is no harm in trying to transplant them. I take a spade and cut the sod in a circle around the seeding; the circle is about 8-12" in diameter. This generally cuts the root from which the tree sprouted and I can then lift out the ball of soil. At the transplant location I dig a hold about the same size, so that I can just plop the ball into place. Then I trim back the seedling a bit, if it is large. Note that this is what I did over Memorial Day, and what I will be doing this weekend--I have about a dozen trees that have come up in the last few weeks. In the spring and fall I just chop off the seedling below ground and just use a planting bar to make an opening in the ground wherever I am going to put the tree. The ball of soil method is only used when I'm transplanting seedlings that have leafed out.

i had 4 blk locusts cut down a few months ago, and now i have shoots everywhere. i feel like mickey and the broomsticks in fantasia. any way to obliterate them without harming my dogs?

Long and interesting thread. I'd like to make one correction to the very interesting and informative post by "wbond." He cautions against using locust as a firewood. It is, in fact, an excellent firewood, perhaps the best. It has a heavy moisture content and requires up to twice as long to cure as, for example, oak. Cured, there are not the sap explosions he refers to. I've never heard about the bark being "poisonous." I don't know if this refers to the smoke, or exactly what. These trees seem to be favorites for poison ivy, but all firewood burners should know to remove these vines before burning. When the wood is cured, the bark sloughs off easily. I, and hundreds of thousands (at least) have burned it for centuries without incident. In fact, it is probably the highest BTU-value firewood of all. The only caveat would be that it's best burned in an enclosed wood stove, owing to its acrid smoke...

I bought 2 little black locust trees in May and they have been doing great until the last coupla weeks when I noticed a lot of the leaves started turning yellow in the middle. I am watering them every day because we are in a drought here in Texas and the temps are so hot. Am I watering them too much? How often should I water? What else could be the matter? Thank you.

I'd like some starts please. Count me in. I have read the thread and I'll put up with the thorns if it will give me some good wood and maybe some shade. Anyone have some of the "annoying" suckers they want to send to me? I'm willing to give it a try and of course I'll pay post. Contact me at the email. I'd like to see a picture of your tree first for ID. Lets trade? I don't have much but maybe we can strike a deal.

I've had a love/hate relationship with black Locust over the years. In my late teens I worked for a woodland weeding crew and had a black locust thorn driven so deeply into the back of my right hand it finally had to be removed surgically. The pain from the thorn was excruciating.

My little bit of locust lore is this. It was sometimes referred to as peg wood or trunnel wood. The wood was highly prized by the craftsmen who erected post and beam structures and was used as the 'tree nails' which were driven into the boreholes to pull the joints tight connecting two beams of wood.

i have a ton of suckers, ill have to take a pic of them and let you have a look. they are very invasive and are driving me crazy!

Found this thread while researching locust for firewood. It may be of interest to those trying to rid yourself of locust trees that I killed three on my property by over-watering. I really wasn't trying to, they were part of three year old professional landscaping and had been put in to provide shade. They were a thornless Honey Locust. There was a slight depression running through the yard where they were planted, not even noticable until we watered. Then the water stood on the roots of the trees until we watered again. They died! The nursery told us they don't like wet feet. So perhaps over-watering may be an easy way to rid yourself of Honey Locust.

This information on black locusts is all very interesting. And I am one that appreciates the trees...EXCEPT, I would like to know what all I can plant under them. It seems as if they suck all the moisture up and I am not having much luck finding things that companion well with them. Any suggestions??

This tree is a loathsome presence in any yard. I have two that I believe are honey locusts, both mature and both nuisances. One rains giant yellow pollen for six weeks every spring, leaving my backyard nearly useless and my gutters clogged with an oatmeal-like goo. The other dumps a few hundred pounds of Chernobyl pea pods in the fall that smell vaguely like cider gone bad and are large enough to kill the grass below them. Mowing is the only refuge from the continual suckers. My neighbors on all three sides have offspring from this Borg of trees.

Neither tree produces the fragrant blossoms other report here. Their lone
saving grace is the shade they provide.

I love the post from the guy encouraging people not to eradicate this species. The locust tree needs protection like the villain in Terminator 2.

Hi everyone, have read through most of these posts and see that people either love em or hate em! I for one think I love them. We have a large back lot that is surrounded by a mini-forest several feet wide. The back is edged by a creek/city drainage ditch (I think it was originally just a creek based upon the way it looks and meanders). In the trees that are full grown I have noticed a couple of beautiful trees that I decided to id this morning, hoping to find some sprouts or buy one at a nursery and plant in the backyard (which is huge and completely treeless other than the edge). Its a locust tree, but I'm not sure if its honey or black and I didn't notice any thorns (but I didn't know to look for them either when I was out there), but it does have those ugly pods in the fall (didn't realize it was the same tree!) and I'm not sure if it had blooms or not. The area I wish to plant it would be in the center of a very sunny and very dry backyard that will have nothing but grass underneath and will be mowed on a regular basis (just like the rest of the yard). I think this tree would be ideal based upon what I have read from everyone. The fact that nothing but grass will grow around it (although there is quite alot of other stuff growing around the full grown ones in the "forest"), the fact that grass will indeed grow around it due to its airiness, its an area that will be regularly mowed so that should prevent the invasive aspect, the lifespan of it, and the fact that its a native tree to my location. (SW MO) What are your thoughts?

I am going to plant a honey locust tree 5' from my water line in front of my house.Is the roots system going to give me any problem with my water line (city water)?

We have tons of black locust trees. This has been an interesting read. We had no problems with shoots until we had to take down 6 trees to build our new house. now they are everywhere! ours tend to not be as healthy since we have trouble with tent worms. I love them smell when they bloom. Ours have only bloomed twice in the last seven years (Michigan, on the west side) But I do want to get them under control, since they are weaving though our fence and parts of them are toxic to our goats. I've been stunned at just how long some of the runners are when I pull the babies out of the ground! a 2 in shoot above ground and 2 yards under! I will say if you are going to dig them up - I refuse to use chemicals on my land - be sure you won't break off the tip, you will just have a much hardier root replace it.
I will take the furniture wood info under advisement and let some of the trees grow in where they won't kill my fence or my goats. I'd love to get back into furniture making, a first need would be a picnic table, and it sounds like the locust would be very hardy and not rot.

I have several locust trees around my house. They are taller than my 2 story house. I have no idea how old they are, but I do know the house was moved here 50 yrs ago. So I guess they are close to that. What I am wondering is if there is something that can be sprayed on them to control the seed pod production? I like the trees, mine have no thorns. But really hate the seed pods. They are very dangerous when I mow over them. I would like to keep the trees. Also very tired of all of the babies from missed seeds showing up in flowerbeds. Any help would be appreciated.

Karen, I have two mature locusts more or less side by side, one that dumps those horrid pea pods in the fall and one that rains (and I mean pours) huge globs of pollen for four solid weeks in the spring. Male and female? I don't know, but both are thoroughly detestable. Great shade in the 8 weeks between the pollen and pods, but that's the lone benefit.

The babies you are seeing are probably suckers from the roots, although I wonder now if the pod version of this tree produces suckers or if the pollen version does it. The quantity is truly mind bending. I mowed my lawn this evening and counted about 25 of the damned things that had popped up in the last week and would probably all form mature trees if left unchecked. Only the Alien, the Borg, and Mormons reproduce with such fervor.

To my knowledge you can do nothing to stop the suckers, including killing the damned trees. Suckers just come up faster from the roots. (Humans are still searching for the key to immortality. Locusts have found it.) I would assume the pods would go away with the tree that produces them but it sounds like you're not that frustrated. Very few of the posts in this chain talk about the pollen or the pea pods so our varietals may be unusual. Lucky us!

Can small trees be transplanted in the summer?

plant in fall or spring when dormant.

Can a four-foot locust be transplanted directly during the summer?

This thread has more lives than a cat,lol.My ? is, if the thorns on the black locust trunk are removed, will they grow back??????Thinking of planting some for shade but don't want the thorns harming the grand kids... thanks eb

Please don't try growing this tree. I have one which I'm about to cut down because it has caused me too many problems. First it does make suckers all over the lawn and into the flower beds, or anywhere within about 40ft so far. It invaded my neighbor's yard. They had some evergreen bushes or shrubs that had to be cut down because they were invaded by my tree which was over 30ft away. It has even pushed a few shoots up, cracking my driveway.

It also tears up the ground with more roots than any tree that I've seen in 360 degrees, and they grow very deep to so barriers won't stop it. Severing the roots will only cause them to replace them. It is truly like a hydra where it just keeps on producing new shoots all through the summer. If the lawn is not cut for a few weeks, some of these shoots can grow a few feet tall. It's tiny leaves really don't provide much shade.

I'm hoping that the roots don't start destroying the foundation of the house so this tree has to go soon. I grow hundreds of different kinds of plants, and I've never seen anything in the ball park of how invasive this tree is. It's much easier to grow a fruit tree, japanese maple, flowering tree, or any kind of tree that stays in one place.

I have linked my gardening blog which has many alternatives to this tree as it is definitely something nobody should have to put up with.

Here is a link that might be useful: My gardening blog

Long interesting informative thread.

Will american filbert grow near black locust? I would like to plant some american filbert in the spring but I have about 10 black locust trees in the area I would like to plant the american filbert and I don't want to waste the money if the already established trees will kill the new bushes.

Thanks

I have had good success with this method of controlling invasive locust trees. Dig a hole at least 48 inches deep. Take an old plastic or metal trash can ($8 at any big box garden store new) and cut out the bottom or if you want the tree to grow slower, put a small hole in the bottom and drill lots of one inch holes in the sides 24-30 inches down from the top of the trash can. Water your dug hole thoroughly and allow to drain. Put your trash can in your 48" hole (or what ever size you dug, just cut the trash can to fit in height) and put your tree inside the trash can to just below ground level and slightly below trash can top level. Depending on where you live, put your drip mist system tubing all the way to the bottom of the trash can. Back fill with dirt around the trash can and in the trash can. Water just enough to wet all the back fill. Water sparingly but consistently through out the life of the tree. The trash can directs the roots downward 4 feet to the water source. The water source consistently wets the soil below the roots so the roots are drawn as far down as possible. Yes, you will still have some small surface suckers but those are easy to cut and control with "Sucker Stop". I live on the eastern side of the Sierras with dry conditions and very cold winters and this tree takes anything you can throw at it. Plant 20' apart and you will have a Serenghetti type of tree that provides dappled shade which is great for starting fruit trees in containers or shading dog runs or even putting in horse pastures. The leaves and pods are edible by live stock. Any suckers I get I just cut at the base put rooting hormone on them and give them away to my neighbors with the proper warnings and growing suggestions. The wood is very very hard, ranches around here have barbed wire fence posts 200 years old of locust or what is called iron wood in these parts. The limbs you prune, if relatively straight, make great canes for your elderly friends and the wood is beautifully marked and easy to sand and stain. There: we just made lemonade. LOL.

I have a very well established Purple Robe Locust Tree. I have lost a few branches due to some powerful wind storms. The tree is getting 'Very' tall and when it is in bloom it isn't real full of flowers. I would like to prune it down a little in height and make it fuller. I am thinking doing so will promote a wider and fuller tree with more blooms. It is early Dec 2013 and I usually prune fruit trees in the fall. Can I prune the robe locust now? Will pruning in down from the top and a little at the end of the branches be okay and give me my desired results? Thank you.

I have a very well established Purple Robe Locust Tree. I have lost a few branches due to some powerful wind storms. The tree is getting 'Very' tall and when it is in bloom it isn't real full of flowers. I would like to prune it down a little in height and make it fuller. I am thinking doing so will promote a wider and fuller tree with more blooms. It is early Dec 2013 and I usually prune fruit trees in the fall. Can I prune the robe locust now? Will pruning in down from the top and a little at the end of the branches be okay and give me my desired results? Thank you.

I have a very well established Purple Robe Locust Tree. I have lost a few branches due to some powerful wind storms. The tree is getting 'Very' tall and when it is in bloom it isn't real full of flowers. I would like to prune it down a little in height and make it fuller. I am thinking doing so will promote a wider and fuller tree with more blooms. It is early fall (Nov 2013) and I usually prune fruit trees in the fall. Can I prune the robe locust now? Will pruning in down from the top and a little at the end of the branches be okay and give me my desired results? Thank you.

I have a very well established Purple Robe Locust Tree. I have lost a few branches due to some powerful wind storms. The tree is getting 'Very' tall and when it is in bloom it isn't real full of flowers. I would like to prune it down a little in height and make it fuller. I am thinking doing so will promote a wider and fuller tree with more blooms. It is early fall (Nov 2013) and I usually prune fruit trees in the fall. Can I prune the robe locust now? Will pruning in down from the top and a little at the end of the branches be okay and give me my desired results? Thank you.

Wow, what a thread! "wbond" could have made every point he made in ONE paragraph. Purple robe is completely different than Black locust or Honey locust. Purple has the prettiest and best smelling flowers but breaks very easily in high wind areas. I have about 27 black locusts around my 40 acres. I live in a very alkaline soil area, with high summer temps. So anywhere I can get a small amount of water to them, I transplant them. If you want them for more than fence posts or dappled shade you have to train them as they are often multi-trunked. Low branches are problematic with the thorns so trimming is a must. I have found THAT is when they start to sucker, as well as if you have a very dry, hot summer for two years in a row, they will sucker then too. They need little moisture here. Ten-15 gallons a week is plenty. Perfect for desert areas and much better than mature willows or cottonwoods of any species, as to gain maturity for those costs you 150-350 gallons of water...per DAY. That's how they drained the wetlands around here. But then a 30-50 foot dead willow or cottonwood is great habitat for raptors, which eat the plagues of mice, rabbits and squirrels we have in these parts. I planted them around my yard and have had minimal problems. I cut the suckers or transplant the sprouts and sell them at the farmers markets with the proper admonitions. Lemons to lemonade.

Agreed! That guy was really on a tear! And the use of "tree-hugging hippies" was only appropriate the first ten times....after that, he got redundant! What a nut job.

Too bad this thread is about two distinctly different trees, with different issues. The honey locust-Gleditsia triacanthos- and its more usually seen variety, inermis, meaning without thorns, is a widely-used street, yard, and parking lot tree, useful to such a degree that by now, it's probably been overplanted.

Black locust-Robinia pseudoacacia-is indeed a serious invasive species across the north, where it has been expanding its range-with the help of humankind-for decades now. That goof way up above that likes this tree so much does a pretty good job of listing all the reasons it's a bad choice for anywhere it's not actually native. If I had any up in my woods......well, I wouldn't have them. My chainsaw would. Extremely damaging to the plant communities into which it invades, I'd recommend extreme caution with this one. Meanwhile, the honeylocust is equally overabundant in suburbia, where it is regularly defoliated by leafhoppers and plant bugs, commonly disfigured by nectria canker, often has no discernible central leader, yet still goes on to grow rapidly. I do see nice ones, but mostly, I just see too many!

+oM

I have a black locust tree in my backyard here in northern alabama and it is HUGE. I would guess 80 feet tall and about 30 feet in diameter. Here we have a lot of thunderstorms in the spring, and the high winds knock the hundreds of seed pods off, and within a few weeks our yard is littered with black locust seedlings. I didn't know they could develop from root rhizomes. In the spring, the tree has hundreds of flower bunches and if you look closely, u can see about 20 bumble and honey bees flying all over the tree for its nectar, and the branches are filled with cicadas making all kinds of noise like a mid-day disco party. The seedlings grow really fast. I try to hurry up and collect them and put them in pots before my dad gets them with the lawmower. North Alabama is a really beautiful place and full of hundreds of thousands of nice people with southern hospitality, so come and visit and enjoy the nice foliage if you're a plant lover like me.

Oh, and I forgot to say that there is nothing wrong with us tree huggers, because without those awesome mother f***ers we wouldn't have any oxygen to live, so do the world a favor and f***ing appreciate them.

And I don't know what's wrong in the north, but here in the beautiful and tropical south, black locust trees are treasured and are grown as landscaping trees and without them, you probably wouldn't have anything to sweeten you're afternoon tea with!

Dev, it's simply a matter of its being non-native up here, and as such, a species able to push out natives when it comes a'calling in your neighborhood. You do realize-don't you-that differing plant species are native to differing areas?

+oM

nvhorseman, thanks for a very interesting post on how to control roots by directing them downward. Three questions though:

1. Roots need to breathe, so, somewhere, they will emerge close to the ground no?

2. Can the roots reach the foundation of your house, and send suckers right thru it? I have seen such posts here.

3. Can you pls post an update on how it is working out?

Thanks!

LettieKaye - how tall has your Purple Robe gotten? Any problems with root suckers? Thanks!