Anyone ever had to clear thorny Locust trees?

[garry1p]

When I first bought this property there were 10 or 12 live and several large dead Honey Locus trees.
I have cut them down and dragged them to a steep bank and pushed them into a creek bed being very careful.
That was for the live ones, trying to drag the dead ones wouldn't work as the limbs would break off leaving a deadly trail of thorny limbs.
For the dead ones I had to pile up every dead limb cut the tree down if not already down and burn in place. The seed pods have to be raked and burned. The dead branches can lay around for many many years and still cause flat tires.
I would go over the area several times in the summer looking for small ones and spray Round Up on them before the thorns would get big enough to do damage.

 

[1 Old Man]

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.

 

[Cataclysm]

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.

You likely won't ever get completely rid of them. Animals eat the seeds and spread them everywhere, plus they are likely on adjoining properties.

Its a constant battle to keep them from taking over once they get started. 2,4,D will kill them when they are under 2' tall, usually.

We spray and brush hog regularly just to keep them from taking over. There's no eliminating them here, they are far too wide spread. I also use a Doughtery tree saw and an EA grapple if they get too big to run the brush hog over.

My LS4155 literally has thousands of these thorns in the 8 ply R4's. After a couple years I did have to put automotive slime in the fronts to keep air in them, no problems after that. So far, 7 yrs and 2200 hrs later no flats in the rears.

Here you don't drive anything in the pasture that you don't want thorns in.

 

[edgarrian]

We purchased 8 acres in 2014. When I was walking the property to pick out an area for the house. I found this tree. I then walked the entire property to see if there was another one. There was not. I rented an excavator and cleared the drive and the house area. I made sure to take down this tree. But that tree still manage to get me in the end. I was walking the area that I had cleared and one of those barbs went through my shoe and into my foot. Them things are nasty

 

[ruffdog]

Good thing our Locust wood rates good for BTUs. Cut, split, burn.......

 

[David in KY]

I just cut a trailer full of 2'-4' tall Honey Locust trees from one of my fields. I moved them directly to the burn pile, which is VERY satisfying.

 

[1 Old Man]

Yes. VERY satisfying to watch these little sob's burn.
I'll add a few pics. 1st pic is the bean pod on a thorny branch. 2nd is a Grubber (if you
don't have many locusts). Buy the larger model.
3rd and 4th pics show thorn trunks etc. If you have these trees you will always have a burn pile.
Also these dang trees are parasitic. They will sprout up inside or next to another
tree and it makes them really hard to target because of the root systems.

 

[1 Old Man]

I just cut a trailer full of 2'-4' tall Honey Locust trees from one of my fields. I moved them directly to the burn pile, which is VERY satisfying.


View attachment 861369View attachment 861370View attachment 861371

I'm liking that smouldering pile of ash.....

 

[Eaglesfate]

Black locust? A dozer with an enclosed cab. Cutting them down with a saw is a tricky proposition. I read somewhere that they love nitrogen poor soil, are nitrogen fixers, take a long time to do so then the trees die. The pointy bits seem to out last the rest of the tree, and from what I and my brother experienced if they nick you the area they poked you can slightly swell. If you want a use for it, Fence posts, boatbuilding, flooring, furniture, mine timbers, railroad ties, and if you raise bees lots of food for them... not sure how big they are but maybe a logging company will buy them from you.

My input.

 

[Streetcar]

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.

Many people are allergic to the oil on thorns cause skin irritation. I have seen the thorn used as nails for powder horns in antique