Processing of locust trees

[greystone2]

I am planning to clear some land that used to be pasture which was allowed to grow up in trees over the past few years. The predominant species is locust, many of which have 3-4 inch long thorns studding their limbs and trunks. I would like to cut the trees and remove useful fence post size material and dispose of the remainder without littering thorns too badly. Since I would be handling the tree anyway I thought I could use a chipper or shredder to ease handling/disposal of material. I have read several of the posts on chippers and shredders but no one seems to directly address how well the machine degrades thorns of the species that have them. I thought I would draw on the experience of persons who had actually tried to handle and remove this type of thorny material and find out what worked for them. Specifically, will a chipper destroy the long thorns or should one use a shredder for this? If there is a difference in whether chippers would be able to reduce the thorns to non-threatening (to tires, etc.) size, which chippers work better? Any other suggestions for mechanically removing these trees without spreading thorns would also be appreciated.

 

[DocHeb]

Burn 'em.

 

[hudr]

I'm with DocHeb, scorching those thorns off is the best approach I know of. Otherwise, you'll be fixing flats from now on. I have a huge locust tree practically in my yard and I plan to pile brush around it and burn it where it stands. I know that is not very efficient in your situation, but I would try to move the trees as little as possible. I don't think a chipper is going to do much to the thorns and you would be amazed at how many you "shake loose" getting the limbs/slash to the chipper. On the other hand, check and see if the local tire man has a kid close to college age... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[dsb5610]

I've never tried running the branches thru a chipper.

These trees are brutal. I use pliers to pull off as many thorns as I can reach before I cut them down. As far as burning, it won't even burn after you pile up the limbs until it dries or you have a hot fire started. The thorns seem to be harder than the limbs so they break off. As I recall, the wood's value as firewood is right behind Osage Orange and Oak.

I've searched for a good solution to harverst them. I've mowed them off only to find that the thorns stay intact and the remaining stumps are very stiff and sharp. I am considering a root grapple to try and uproot the smaller ones. In the meantime I trim them and cut them off at ground level then try to keep that area mowed short.

dsb

 

[jeffinsgf]

I've got several, but have only taken one out so far. If you have a wood stove or fireplace, you'll love the way the locust burns. It does not take long to season, burns hot and lasts very well.

I chipped/shredded the slash. I could not find any thorns that would continue to be a threat to tires or feet afterwards. On my Goossen, the chipped material goes through the shredder, too.

You have to be very, very careful handling this stuff. Burning the slash might be better than chipping. It worked, but I shed quite a bit of blood for a little bit of mulch. I think I'll chip the cedar, oak, persimmon and sycamore -- but burn the locust slash. The trunks and limbs are worth the effort to harvest for firewood -- if you burn.

 

[Birdman]

I have a lot of those thorny locust trees on my place. The best way I have come up with to safely get rid of them is to use the chainsaw and cut a ring all the way around the tree, and then just wait a couple of years for it to die. The thorns then dry up and become brittle. When you step or drive on them they just break up in to small pieces. I still can get thorns stuck in my tires or boots but they are just not as tough after they dry out for awhile. Then I burn everything and just rake the whole area around the tree, right onto the fire. Any smaller trees in the area I just cut down green and throw them on the fire too.

 

[RalphVa]

I've run locust limbs through my 2 shredders/chippers. The thorns don't get destroyed unless you use a fine mesh screen on the discharge. You'd probably have to run them through with a medium/course screen and then rerun the mulch through with a fine screen to not slow you down too much on getting rid of the initial material.

Think folks' recommendations to burn to kill and let dry up may be the best. In shredding them, you have to be very careful to not get a thorn through a finger or hand or arm when the branches get sucked into the shredders.

Ralph

 

[turnkey4099]

Locust is one of top few firewoods. I will take every stick I can find. That said there are some problems other than the thorns.

They are h*** on chainsaws and chains - expect to sharpen, sharpen and sharpen again. Once dry I have seen sparks coming out of the cut. I would expect that, as hard as they are, they would also be hard on chipper knives.

IMO burning is the only solution for the slash other than just leaving it in a pile.

Harry K

 

[slowrev]

Do they have great big long thorns with 2 more thorns branching off the central thornl on the trunk and branches ? If so those sound like honey locust. Not sure if they are good for anything or not. Black locust is great for posts and firewood though.
Ben

 

[Pks]

I was very successful at removing locust slash and 4 inch sapplings. I was careful at where I put my fingers and all went well.

My species of locust didn't have too many thorns on the trunks so I just cut them down. I did not remove any larger than 6 inches in diameter.

If a thorn got in my way I knocked it off with my boot. All trees and shash were fed to the chipper in as large a piece as the chipper could handle. That minimized cutting and handling. In most cases, the whole 30 foot sappling was kept in-tact and fed to the chipper. The machine easily ate the entire tree in one big slow gulp.

The chipper I used was a 6 inch chipper made by Mohrbark.

If I fed the branches in quickly, the chips were 2 inches long. If fed slowly (it had a hydraulic feed) the chips were 3/4 inch. The chipped piles were then picked up by shovel (and gloved hands). There were no thorns left to bother hands or tires.