Anyone ever had to clear thorny Locust trees?

[BufordBoone]

We have those things. Hate is not a strong enough word for how we feel about them. I've gotten pretty good at spotting them, even from a distance.

However, it seems I find another couple every year.

 

[Joe Batt]

We used honey locust for firewood when I was a kid. It burn really hot and doesn't rot sitting in the wood pile. Of course, now I have a geothermal well.

 

[tjones59]

I had a lot of those when clearing my property. 2 things that got rid of them for me where a track hoe digging them up and putting on the burn pile. That only worked where he was working around the pond being dug. The second was to "girdle" the trees in the woods. Forester told me take my chain saw and cut at least 3 or three rings around the bottom part of the tree about 6 inches apart just going an inch or two deep which is through the growth layer. Deep enough to kill the stray but prevents it from weakening it too much. It can take 2 or 3 years for it to die but all of the bark drops off of it and mostly falls straight down then you can take the tree down. It worked for me but it is a slow process.

 

[gstrom99]

My Jeep is sitting in the drive, on three wheels. I have a flat tire to take in to the tire guy. Thorn needle, from the last visit to our new place. We've got a bunch more Locust trees out there to remove.

 

[Robert walker]

Water locust thorny trees! I am concerned about getting flats on the Mahinda 5010 tractor while clipping the pasture. Or my truck while riding through! Now and far into the future, but not sure how much the latter is a concern. It's because of what we always called Water Locust trees, incredibly thorny monsters. These things have thousands of thorns several inches long that are like nails, like super big hypodermic needles. If you've never seen one, check the image at the bottom. Growing up on the farm, we had to bushhog the pastures and we'd get flats from these thorns. So, what to do. How do you get rid of these? I could hire a forestry mulcher that has tracks and he could certainly do it. But how long would you need to not drive in that spot!

A couple of years ago in this same pasture, we cut some in the open pasture with a chainsaw and polesaw and carefully stacked every single limb and made brush piles. I am now going to burn those and hope every thorn burns! But I now need to clear a heavily infested spot, dozens of trees to reclaim that part of the pasture. What is the best method is the question. And also how long these thorns can remain a pest. Like, many years before they rot?

These trees are beautiful trees otherwise and make a great conversation topic; I would like to save a couple of the more picturesque ones but I worry about them shedding a limb here and there and... flats. The trees also makes great firewood but dealing with the massive thorn clusters, yikes. I suppose that these trees are cousins of the honey locust tree. I wish they were just black locust or the thornless honey locust variety.

I have thousands(it seems like) of honey locust. What I started doing is cutting them down with chain saw and after I get a bunch on the ground I go through and spray the stumps on the top with a mix of 1qt. remedy and 3qt. diesel. That kills the root system. I have a few of the smaller ones that I missed cutting or spraying but nothing like the 3-8" in diameter ones I cut. I do leave the stumps about 15" high of the bigger ones so I can find them in the fall to cut off at ground.

I had the same problem with flats. I bought 3 gallons of the Green Slime, they have a new formula that works in inner tube tires. That was 2 years ago and I have not had a flat on tractor since, knock on wood. I try to be careful and not intentionally run over those thorns when pushing up in piles to burn but I know I do. The Green Slime works. Bought off amazon, about $25 a gallon. This has worked very good for me.

 

[Robert walker]

I think in Tx and La it's the same tree. Honey locust or water locust. Whatever.
I deal with these trees all the time. It's a never ending battle. Thorns are often 6"
long with 2 other thorns at the base of the 6" thorn. The trees produce pods that
have beans in them (yes, they are edible). Some are eaten by wildlife that poops
and wham, another tree to deal with. The following are things that MIGHT help.

If you pull the tree up, make sure you get all the roots. Otherwise more trees.
If you cut the tree down with a chain saw, you will sometimes see sparks. (dense wood).
If you use loping shears on young sprouts, leave a short stub (2-3").
Chain saw or loping shears....as soon as it's cut...immediately spray the cut stump or
short stub with 3 parts diesel and 1 part Remedy. Spray the open cut and the sides of the
stub or stump. If you wait, the stub or stump will "scab" over.
You can also Basal spray the tree trunks about 2 or 3' above ground level. It might take
a year or more to kill a big tree, but it will kill it.
DO NOT shred or mow over these trees. You'll just get flats and more trees.
Thorns will penetrate boot soles like a hot knife in butter, tires, thick leather gloves etc etc
If you get stuck...they don't inject anything, but, I believe there is some resin etc that
makes that skin puncture very itchy (besides the immediate bleeding!).
Depending on tractor size, small trees can be pulled from the ground using a Grubber.

I was one of the unfortunate souls that failed to get a grapple from EA. I did get my $ back.
Ordered a grapple from Homestead and it should be here any day. I've been able to use
pallet forks but finally decided to splurge and get a grapple. The problem will be that the
thorns catch or grab onto anything they touch. I hate these trees. They are the spawn
of the devil.
I hope this helps someone.

You and me do the same thing. I cut and spray with the same remedy/diesel formula, usually within an hour or two of cutting them down. I had some piled to burn 3 years and when they caught fire the water in them started to come out the ends. They are a nightmare. I was told honey locust and persimmons, cut one with a brush hog, 5 new ones sprout off the roots. I have not had good luck pulling them out of the ground so I cut them about 15" so I can go back through and spray immediate. I go back and cut off flush with ground when I don't see any sprouts around them. Im in East Texas, outside of Henderson.

 

[jmc]

i had AG tires back then and the dealer recommended staying out of the thornfield when it was soft. When it's dry, the tread lugs keep the thin tire carcass off the ground. Not foolproof but I had a lot of thorns in the lugs but not many flats.

 

[1 Old Man]

You and me do the same thing. I cut and spray with the same remedy/diesel formula, usually within an hour or two of cutting them down. I had some piled to burn 3 years and when they caught fire the water in them started to come out the ends. They are a nightmare. I was told honey locust and persimmons, cut one with a brush hog, 5 new ones sprout off the roots. I have not had good luck pulling them out of the ground so I cut them about 15" so I can go back through and spray immediate. I go back and cut off flush with ground when I don't see any sprouts around them. Im in East Texas, outside of Henderson.

Yes. I'll cut the trunk IF I can get to it, leave a short stump and spray it. Lots of times the limbs sag almost
to the ground and I'm not interested in getting stabbed trying to saw the trunk. So I'll increase the sprayer
pressure just a tad and spray the trunk base over the bark etc. It does take a year or 2 for the big trees to die.
I'm sure girdling works better, but again, not willing to crawl under to get stabbed.
A tire plug kit and Green Slime are necessities. You'll need a portable air tank or gas compressor if your
tractor gets a flat while working in the woods. Not fun.
I've seen a video where guys set the Locust on fire at the base, let it burn up the trunk and out the limbs.
Then the thorns are burned off and they cut the tree down. I'd try this but I've got other trees really close
and don't want to set a forest fire! It does burn hotter than most other woods and I guess if you
wanted to take a torch or Dragon Flame and burn off all the thorns you could use it for firewood. I won't.
I will pile it up and have a bonfire.
If you find something that works better than cut and spray, please post it.
Good luck!

 

[N7HEVN]

I have 26 acres in central/east Oklahoma, and these are rampant there.

When I bought my property (2019), there was dozens of these there (some just small saplings, some 8-12' tall, and a couple over 20-25'), and I also incurred flat front tires, twice, due to cutting these down.
One flat-tire time though, was totally and unfortunately my fault. Had cut some down, and some other scrub too, putting it all into a pile. By the time that I was able to burn, the grass had grown around the pile, and I didn't take into memory, where these nasty's were...
As I was dumping some new brushy junk into the pile from the grapple, I had driven into a side of the pile, forgetting that was where the needles/branches were. Looked down in my tire tracks, and said F***, as I knew what was coming as a result of my foolishness...
So, sharing my foolishness, to hopefully help someone else in their future, and be very attentive to these if you have the same situation of not being able to quickly attend to burning them (this is retirement preparation property, so I don't live there, and am there only about one weekend a month to get chores done); which was noted by others earlier, these nasty's hold their moisture for quite a while, and need time to fully dry-out, before you can effectively burn them; without a bunch of diesel or kerosene dumped on to quickly burn.

In the 5+ years of owning my land now, and going through those experiences, this is what I could offer for advise...
--Try to catch them when they're very young, back over with your brush cutter, and cut really low. Continue cutting low around that area for the next couple of years, not letting them re-sprout, recursively off the roots; as others had noted that these absolutely do re-sprout off of the root system.
--If you've already inherited land with grown trees, or adolescent saplings within 10' of height, take your time, and tackle cutting the branches off that you can, one at a time, then the trunk. Throw all the pieces onto a utility trailer (like another person had posted the pictures of, which I did the same thing), and safely transport them to a good burn spot. It may take 2-3 years, but they'll eventually fully die-out; but like my first reference, keep mowing each Spring/Fall season.
--If you've got full-grown 20'+ tall trees, pretty much the only option is to cut and drop them. Cut the branches off, and pile carefully. Cut the trunk every 3-5-7 feet, to try and get some of the moisture out of the middle(s). Then, burn it all where it lays... It will take potentially 3-6 months after you've cut the tree down, for the pieces to get dry enough to really burn effectively; getting hot enough to take the 'points' off the needles. When it is time to burn, mow out 10' from all the pieces (hopefully you have the space available), and burn it all, grass and branches and logs, to make sure you've burnt-out all the needles that may have scattered around as the tree fell.

These have been the lessons I've had to learn as a first-time land owner, and now it's just mostly mowing effort, and a beautiful piece of property.
Good luck to your success!

 

[sixdogs]

I had a lot of those when clearing my property. 2 things that got rid of them for me where a track hoe digging them up and putting on the burn pile. That only worked where he was working around the pond being dug. The second was to "girdle" the trees in the woods. Forester told me take my chain saw and cut at least 3 or three rings around the bottom part of the tree about 6 inches apart just going an inch or two deep which is through the growth layer. Deep enough to kill the stray but prevents it from weakening it too much. It can take 2 or 3 years for it to die but all of the bark drops off of it and mostly falls straight down then you can take the tree down. It worked for me but it is a slow process.

This works. A cut completely around the bark with a chainsaw, paint the exposed cut with glyphosate/Roundup concentrate to hurry things up and the tree will die and stay where it is.

You must paint the cut with the Roundup ASAP after the cut if you want to kill it. I do it immediately and have had 20 minute delays on my part fail. I only do one good cut around the diameter and perfectly through the bark. You can even hire it out and save the aggravation.

My BIL had loads of flat tractor tires trying to do it on his own and my takeaway, before I learned of the Roundup approach, was hire a bulldozer. Of course that messes up a lot of ground and still drops needles.