Black locust propogation

I’m finding information about propagating locust from root cuttings, but not branch/wood cuttings. I’ve convinced myself that I remember seeing something about propogation via wood. Does anyone know if it works and have a citation for a source I can read up on this?

(Related to fruit growing in that I want a wind break for my orchard and would like to get some substantial early nectar/pollen sources going.)

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What we call black locust in this area root suckers like crazy. To propagate it you can dig up and transplant suckers. You can also air layer- search this site for several good tutorials and links.

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Yes it does sucker like crazy so be careful where you plant it. I planted a mile of BL hedgerow at my old farm- for coppice woodlot, fix nitrogen, wildlife habitat, etc. But it became a problem throwing up suckers with nasty thorns in the ag fields adjacent to hedgerow. Every time a bush hog clipped a sucker or, plow or harrow nicked a root up came more suckers, more thorns. But FABULOUS firewood, beats oak, hickory in my experience. You’ll need to take your chainsaw sharpening jig with you to cut it though, very hard.

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Maybe I should rethink this…

I was planning a row 30 feet outside the orchard fence.

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Got to be one of the very best firewoods ever. And so hard it’s used for making bowling pins, bobbins in mills, and so on. Handsome trees, but slow to get going in our climate.

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I should add: It is straight grained so splits well. And resists rot for a long, long, long time. And if you keep bees you’ll have excellent honey mid- May Zone 7.

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I have one BL volunteer in the currant patch. The patch is maybe 5 yrs old and the tree is 6-7 tall. I’m guessing it’s just hitting its stride now. It will get pulled, the question is whether it will live on clonally elsewhere.

I heat with wood, keep bees, and need a hedge. What to do…hmmmm

The thorns are pretty nasty as well.

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It might. As for being a good hedge, I don’t know. As far as heating with wood, you’d love it. It burns clean, hot, slow, not much ash, doesn’t gum up your chimney - my very favorite for heating a tent, even ahead of fruitwoods. Nice to have a bed of coals to start it in, and then just let it do its work.

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Black locust can even make a decent shade tree in a yard if there is deep topsoil.
Experienced first hand about 25 years all together.

But, with shallow topsoil, the locust roots travel barely below the surface and hence an abundance of sprouts.

I highly suspect propagation from root cuttings would work as well or better than twigs treated with hormone., but I’ve not done it.

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Maybe if you have a wide grass buffer strip alongside the locusts that you mow or bush hog on regular basis to keep the hedgerow from expanding.

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I will say that our neighbor across the street has two very attractive trees and the only thing they do to manage the suckers is to mow. These trees must be over fifty feet tall- way taller than the area power poles. Graceful canopies -I’ll try to post pictures tomorrow.

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Do you like Blk Locust better or osage orange better for firewood?

I have 2 strains, one is thornless, the other has half inch thorns on the younger wood that fall off after the wood is several years old… If you get ahold of thornless to proppagate then that is my preference. Then the big thorn honey locust has wicked branched thorns that stay on old wood and grow jynormous!!!

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I would prefer Osage Orange for a long skinny tree row since it doesnt sucker… OO firewood also has a little better BTU at 30 million btu per cord versus about 26 million for Locust and 25 million i think for stuff like mulberry and oak… Also osage orange makes the longest lasting fence posts as well as the best bow wood, read how the osage indians got rich selling the osage bows to other tribes… I read that an osage bow was worth a horse to other tribes…
I love thornless black locust too though! And on BL vs OO i have never tested them separately to examine which is my personal favorite firewood, I love them both, though OO is superior posts. What I like about BL suckering is if you want a square acre thicket BL makes an awesome thicket of firewood…

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Best honey for mixing, bar none! Very thick, very sweet, water white, and absolutely no flavor. Always thrilled when these trees made honey.

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If you need fence/ orchard posts, they will out live you. I’ve pulled 90 year old posts that had only a little rot on the surface. As others have said wonderful firewood.

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I have done root cuttings, planted in spring and didnt emerge for 1 year.

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Locust or Mulberry are the go-to for posts and/or firewood in my neck of the woods. Not much Osage Orange around here. As far as honey, Locust is definitely good. Sourwood is common here and they make great honey from it. Also Basswood or as my grandfather called it “Lin”. Poplar makes for darker honey, which similar to grocery store fruit, probably turns people off. It has a milder taste though, very good.

Large/old Black Locust around here are becoming scarce, mostly all have died.

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That makes complete sense as Basswood is related to the Linden tree.

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Never burned osage orange. My brother is in Kansas and knows it, but I don’t. My grandfather used to make bows with it, called it, irrc, “bowdark”.

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Somebody should tell the OP that there’s no interest in trees in this group …

;-)M

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