Locust Trees are Nasty

[japody]

Around here we call the locust trees "sticky bushes" because of the thorns. They will puncture a tire in a heartbeat. That's why we cut and burn every one we see. SIL stepped on one some years ago. Wasn't pretty!

 

[JerryK]

Where I used to live I had honey locust trees in a field. They grew from the roots and were HARD to get rid of... Cutting the 'tree' down just pissed them off and made them decide to make new trees everywhere... had to take roots and all...

 

[Garandman]

Related to the topic only vaguely, but back when New England mills and factories were powered by water, most of the works made of wood.

Know what was used as the bearing material? Locust.

 

[MossRoad]

I have close to 10,000 locust trees on our property. I have heated our home with wood for the last 6 years. Locust is the best firewood I have found. It burns longer and more completely than anything else I have tried. Very complete burn with very little ash. It doesn't rot, even when laying on the ground for years. It makes great fence posts IF you can drive a nail into it! It wears out chainsaw chains very fast. If you saw it in low light, you can see sparks flying out of the wood. I had a pile of it laying on the ground like telephone poles for about 15 years. Only the bark had rotted off. It was still hard as a rock. One piece of it weighs about 50% more than a similarly sized piece of oak. The splitter complains about it, too. It is really a very useful wood. You could probably sell it or give it away and have someone else do the work of removing it.

 

[rswyan]

It's only "trash" as long as one remains unaware of what it is that one actually has ...

Black Locust Lumber, U.S.A. - Black Locust Lumber Home

I - like Moss - have some growing on my property here. I wish I had more. I've also got a few Black Locust "poles" that have been laying on the ground in the woods, right on the edge of the yard ... that have been there for the last 10 or 15 years.

BTW ... if you disturb the ground and roots (close to the surface) where black locust trees are growing, you can expect a bumper crop of ... (wait for it) ... new black locust saplings the following year ...

Ask me how I know this ...

 

[KentT]

If the black locusts are of any size (6" or larger), I'd strongly recommend that you cut them and stockpile them somewhere. Trim the limbs off while they're green, then pile the trunks up somewhere out of the way for later use. Locust is far stronger than oak for structural use and will outlast PT wood and perhaps even creosoted wood such as telephone poles or railroad ties. We're talking 25-50 years in ground contact. It's great for "landscape timbers" or fence posts or... I've known people who've built retaining walls with it, while green, by drilling holes and pinning it with rebar.

It is a waste to just burn it as brush or refuse. It's too good for firewood or other uses to just waste it... JMO

 

[rswyan]

If the black locusts are of any size (6" or larger), I'd strongly recommend that you cut them and stockpile them somewhere. Trim the limbs off while they're green, then pile the trunks up somewhere out of the way for later use. Locust is far stronger than oak for structural use and will outlast PT wood and perhaps even creosoted wood such as telephone poles or railroad ties. We're talking 25-50 years in ground contact. It's great for "landscape timbers" or fence posts or... I've known people who've built retaining walls with it, while green, by drilling holes and pinning it with rebar.

It is a waste to just burn it as brush or refuse. It's too good for firewood or other uses to just waste it... JMO

:thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

One thing I'd recommend if you're going to stockpile locust logs.... lay down two or more logs as a base, then stack the poles across them. The reason? The locust logs are so heavy they'll sink into the dirt! I spent three hours on a chainsaw on locust today.... my arms hurt! :laughing:

 

[Cherokee140]

I have so many black locust trees it is not even funny. If someone wanted to buy them I would GIVE them away just to not have to deal with the things. Thorns longer then my finger, they will go right through the most tough boots I own, Tires have zero chance. And they grow like weeds. The poster said they just get pissed if you cut them down....they sprout "baby" trees like crazy, and I mow them every week. I have seen roots bigger then the trunks. Check out my day in the life thread in the Kubota section, just about every tree you see is a black locust tree....they are amazing.

It is a very fast growing tree and has very hard wood but there is where the good ends. Someone may make stuff out of them and that is all well and fine, but unless that company wants to come to my property and take trees that are 100' tall they are still pest trees and will be cut down and burned.

 

[Garycw]

If there are any sizable pieces, that is some of the best firewood there is. BTU per cord is one of the best and very little ash. I love the stuff!

I 2nd that. It's some of the best fire wood there is. It burns like coal and almost as hot. The thorny smaller branches are the pain.
When burning in wood stove or insert, be careful not to over stoke. It will warp your firebox. I found that out the hard way. I once had to open the doors in winter to cool the house down it got so hot inside.

 

[rswyan]

I have so many black locust trees it is not even funny. If someone wanted to buy them I would GIVE them away just to not have to deal with the things. Thorns longer then my finger, they will go right through the most tough boots I own, Tires have zero chance. ...

Sounds like you have honey locust trees (which have long thorns) ... or really short fingers ...

Black locust thorns are relatively short ...

 

[Raised on a Deere]

I can vouch for the use of BlackLocust for posts and firewood. Built several fences with my dad as a teenager and have witnessed the coming and going of other fence posts while most of the locust fence lines are still solid. Over 60 years for those. they tied into fences that were old when I was young. Those were locusts and some of them are still standing as well. I recall some folk lore wisdom about best time to cut them and when to set them, forget what any of that was, I wasn't interested in most of the wisdom of the day. If it had a steering wheel I was interested.

Fast forward, when I built my own place near Lawrenceburg Ky during the Arab Oil Crisis, 1973 era, I bought an airtight stove and heated the house with wood. I always had heard that oak and ash were the good firewoods and felt like a poor second class citizen since all I had was acres and acres of black locust. Had to do very little splitting since most of the wood was from limbs and trunks no larger than 12". I was getting unheard of performance out of that wood and people would tell me, try some oak and hickory. I did and the locust performed better. Burned overnight and kept the house warm so that wake up was just add more wood and good for the day. It is fantastic firewood.

Don't bother clearing any of it unless you intend to keep it mowed two or three times a year. Other wise you will wind up with a thicket that is almost impassable within a few years. Unless you bulldoze it and root rake diligently, and plow it and cultivate it. Even then you will have locust sprouts in your crops.

It has been love hate about the locusts but for now I love one of my locust plots. I cleared a couple acres into rows that I bush hog (my grandson calls it canopy acres because of the neat rows of trees covering the sky) and every summer go out and take my pick of trees to fell and saw up into wood. With the loader and these neat rows of mowed space it is like taking candy from a baby to get fire wood, and the grapple enables me to clean up so fast the fun never got a chance to turn into work.

The patch is gaining still and I wonder just how many houses it would heat perpetually. Yup they are nasty but perhaps that sows ear can turn out to be a bit of silk purse with an adjustment of attitude.

These particular species of black locust do not have a lot of thorns and I had only occasional flat tire due to that and never a rear tire. Perhaps lucky.

 

[CBR1000rr]

I, too, am a fan of the locust tree. I tend to lean more towards the honey locust over the black locusts. It makes an amazing firewood and post but what attracts me is the beauty of the wood! Both the honey locust and black locust trees produce an amazing piece of lumber. I've got a nice stand of locust trees that I intend to use to build counter tops for my kitchen.

 

[MossRoad]

I've heard its pretty hard to keep straight in furniture, flooring, etc...

 

[grnspot110]

I've got way too many Honey Locust trees at the farm, been fighting them for 50 years. Lots of flat tires over that time! It is one of the best firewood's out there! I usually kill the thorny ones by cutting a saw kerf around the base & squirting Tordon in it. Too much firewood trees available to mess with the thorns! Don't have any Black Locusts, but have hedge (Osage Orange) for fence posts, much harder & decent sized posts will last 50+ years. ~~ Lowell

 

[Garycw]

Most of mine have a hole that goes through the center of the trunks & larger branches. I was told it was done kind of worm that goes through center ? It doesn't seem to effect there health or froth though. It's some tough wood , but splits pretty good on the 22 ton splitter or even a axe. I also have & burn a lot of perision Elm. It's ok fire wood , but impossible to split without a hydraulic spliter. Too stringy to use axe & wedges. Just a good way to loose a bunch of wedges.

 

[Capricious]

I can't tell one tree from another. But I hate the trees that have thorns. I carry "plugging" supplies in the truck to fix tubeless tires. Don't have any with tubes or I guess I would be carrying tire irons as well. (I think I have one tire iron in the truck, maybe).

Getting tired of plugging so I am trying the "slime" in a couple of tires.

 

[Raised on a Deere]

I can't tell one tree from another. But I hate the trees that have thorns. I carry "plugging" supplies in the truck to fix tubeless tires. Don't have any with tubes or I guess I would be carrying tire irons as well. (I think I have one tire iron in the truck, maybe).

Getting tired of plugging so I am trying the "slime" in a couple of tires.

SIGH ! I still go through a strong sense of pleasure everytime I go to the barn to get the tractor out and don't see a flat tire. On the farm I grew up on we has several wagons, trucks and tractors about and it was a good day when I was not fixing a flat so we could get on with the work. Broken leaf springs were the tire irons and every kind of lug wrench laying around to go through to get the one you needed. And after removing everything you could see, you just knew the tire had more thorns working their way through.

Slime finally slowed that problem down. But what a mess.

 

[cdavid1944]

Try a google search on timber cutters. You may be able to make some money. I found this one that might be a possibility. SellYourTrees.com - Sell Your Trees, We Buy Trees, Tree Buyers

 

[Rockfish Dave]

I hope you are treating the stumps with Remedy or Crossbow herbicides after cutting other wise you are in for some serious work....