Honey Locust Tree

[MoKelly]

Rent your place out as an artillery range?

All ideas are good. But - I’m going to pass on that one!

MoKelly

 

[buck12]

Ali

You can do this without getting flats on your tractor?

Are the trees still alive or dead?

MoKelly

Living trees. I am afraid to say it but I have not a flat on my current tractor. I did have several on my last tractor but never moving thorn trees. I try to handle them as little as possible and move them as short a distance as possible to reduce the chance of dropping thorns.

I have a large thorn tree to deal with near our cabin. I am thinking about cutting it down and burning it where it falls. The down side to that is I have to look at a felled tree for months while it dries enough to burn.

 

[N80]

My property is covered in them as is the cattle ranch next door. My B-I-L, the rancher next door, says he gets flats fairly often from them in his big tractors. In 15 years I never have and I mow under and around them all the time. I certainly do not run over fallen branches on purpose. My farm truck got a flat from one. Patched it. But so fat that's it. So I leave them alone.

Plus, the deer really like the pods.

 

[MoKelly]

Spoke with a guy who runs a mill a few roads over. He came and looked at the dead locust tree. He agreed to cut it down, mulch all small branches in exchange for taking the trunk and branches he can use.

Good deal.

Thanks for that suggestion.

After he is done, I will need to take the area for those darn thorns. Still will probably miss a few. It only takes one!!!

MoKelly

 

[MoKelly]

I would recommend poisoning the stump. Locusts will sprout from remaining roots. Putting brush killer on the freshly cut stump might, just maybe, kill the roots too.

Thanks! I hadn’t thought about that but it makes tons of sense.

I heard drilling holes and pouring brush killer in the holes helps.

MoKelly

 

[MossRoad]

Thanks! I hadn’t thought about that but it makes tons of sense.

I heard drilling holes and pouring brush killer in the holes helps.

MoKelly

I'd concentrate on soaking the cuts around the bark, not the center of the cut. Any sprouts will come from the bark area. I have a friend that's a consulting forester. He said to take a bottle, like a dish washing detergent bottle, and mix up a batch of roundup. Use the squirt bottle to soak the bark area of the cut directly after cutting. If sprouts occur in the future, make a fresh cut and reapply.

 

[MoKelly]

I'd concentrate on soaking the cuts around the bark, not the center of the cut. Any sprouts will come from the bark area. I have a friend that's a consulting forester. He said to take a bottle, like a dish washing detergent bottle, and mix up a batch of roundup. Use the squirt bottle to soak the bark area of the cut directly after cutting. If sprouts occur in the future, make a fresh cut and reapply.

Thanks. I can do that.

MoKelly

 

[MoKelly]

I believe herbicide can help here. Ask the mill owner if he will take any more that die then inject the rest with herbicide to kill them (without telling SWMBO of course). Next year,call the saw mill. Be very vigilent in watching for new sprouts from roots within 40-50 feet of stump and spray them.

The mill guy said he’d take 2 of the others - he says the rest are not thick enough in the trunk area for his productive use.

I can’t kill them on purpose. I couldn’t look my wife in the eyes. She knows whenever I not telling the truth. It’s a liability I’ve had now for 40 years!

Also, the heathy ones are not all that much trouble. They don’t drop branches and thorns like the dead/dying trees. I can live with them for now.

MoKelly

 

[ponytug]

I'm glad that it worked out with the mill!

I have heard the roundup on stump advice, and looked at a few videos, too. However, I haven't had much luck with the roundup on stump bark/edges on my bay trees. The bays seem to sprout every year, and I cut them back each time. It has been over a decade, but then they were massive trees; the stumps are three to five feet across. I wouldn't have taken them out, but they were a fire and limb hazard. I guess that it depends on the type of tree.

But if your wife really likes the honey locust trees, perhaps it isn't all bad if the stump sprouts?

I can't really imagine having to deal with the thorns for years afterwards.

All the best,

Peter

 

[MoKelly]

I'm glad that it worked out with the mill!

But if your wife really likes the honey locust trees, perhaps it isn't all bad if the stump sprouts?

I can't really imagine having to deal with the thorns for years afterwards.

All the best,

Peter

Once they die, even my wife is ok with me doing whatever it takes to keep them dead. Enough perseverance will prevail.

It’s the live ones she doesn’t want me to intentionally kill.

Living with these trees requires having tire plugs in bulk! Plus, I have a tire shop near that does good work.

MoKelly

 

[mx1alex]

I hate honey locust with a passion. I go around with a hatchet and a bottle of either triclopyr or picloram and hack and squirt all the trees I can. This kills them pretty quick but leaves them up in the air. By the time the dead trees start dropping limbs (takes a few years) the thorns aren't near as strong. It's still a pain to handle and deal with, but so far (*knocks on wood) no flat tires with this approach.

 

[lman]

I'm glad that it worked out with the mill!

I have heard the roundup on stump advice, and looked at a few videos, too. However, I haven't had much luck with the roundup on stump bark/edges on my bay trees. The bays seem to sprout every year, and I cut them back each time. It has been over a decade, but then they were massive trees; the stumps are three to five feet across. I wouldn't have taken them out, but they were a fire and limb hazard. I guess that it depends on the type of tree.

But if your wife really likes the honey locust trees, perhaps it isn't all bad if the stump sprouts?

I can't really imagine having to deal with the thorns for years afterwards.

All the best,

Peter

I've never heard of a Honey Locust tree getting that big. The biggest one I've seen is about 2 feet.

 

[oosik]

My two Hawthorn trees are bad enough. Nothing like the Honey Locust I saw when checked on Google. My arms have been punctured a few times when pruning the Hawthorn.

 

[3Ts]

I'd concentrate on soaking the cuts around the bark, not the center of the cut. Any sprouts will come from the bark area. I have a friend that's a consulting forester. He said to take a bottle, like a dish washing detergent bottle, and mix up a batch of roundup. Use the squirt bottle to soak the bark area of the cut directly after cutting. If sprouts occur in the future, make a fresh cut and reapply.

Are you sure the forester said roundup on trees? Roundup is for control of grassy vegetation not brushy. Triclorpyr is normally the chemical used for brush. Sometimes a mixture of roundup & triclorpyr & diesel is used on hard to kill trees.

 

[lman]

TSC used to sell a bottle of stump killer that was actually pure glyphosate.

 

[MossRoad]

Are you sure the forester said roundup on trees? Roundup is for control of grassy vegetation not brushy. Triclorpyr is normally the chemical used for brush. Sometimes a mixture of roundup & triclorpyr & diesel is used on hard to kill trees.

Yep. Roundup.

Tree Stump Removal with Roundup® Weed and Grass Killer Products

Let us show you how to kill a tree stump the right way.

www.roundup.com

 

[grnspot110]

Tordon RTU for stump killing!

 

[N80]

I've used Round Up for years on tree stumps. Works great. Keep the concentration high. I paint the whole stump. No reason not too. It even kills gum stumps. I know it will kill the Honey Locust stumps because I've done it plenty of times. I'm not sure it will kill the root system which, in my experience, can extend way beyond the canopy diameter of the tree.

For whoever was talking about the size of Honey Locusts, they are not large trees but they are trees. I have plenty that are 30+ feet high. Only the ones out in the open look good and healthy. Most of the ones in the woods are scraggly looking.

There is one right out the back door of my cabin. I'd say at the base of the trunk it is a good 16" in diameter if not more.

I have a big clump of them in the woods on my property that I actually fertilize. The deer love the pods. On windy days they'll bed down around the trees to get the pods that fall.

I have heard the wood is good for fence posts. Which I can believe. They never seem to rot.