Re: black locust was: sedums under tree?

Thanks, Marge-I enjoyed this.  Was embarrassed to have stuck my neck out
where obviously I didn't have a clue.  I looked up Robinia pseudoacacia too,
and saw how little I knew once more!  ...and noticed there was no "honey
locust" mentioned in any of the species-didn't realize it was a different
genus.

Interesting about how to kill the suckers.  The AHS Encyclopedia...A-Z just
said to detach them in the fall.

Allow me to suggest Norway maple as the blinkety-blank culprit in the mass
seeding of your driveway!  They throw down gallons of seeds, and it seems
they're at it all year.  AND the seeds are more easily rooted than slug eggs
become slugs.

Now, one more good thing about black locusts is their gnarly branches, which
as we previously mentioned, are very brittle (that's the bad part!).  My
shade garden uses many of those branches as structural "ornaments," and they
look very good.  If this sounds exciting, pray they don't hit your favorite
specimen hosta or fern when they come down!

Diann

-----Original Message-----
From:   PRIMROSES [s*@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU] On Behalf Of
Marge Talt
Sent:   Monday, September 04, 2000 3:20 AM
To:     shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject:        Re: [SG] black locust  was: sedums under tree?

:-), Diann....I'm talking about Robinia pseudoacacia, according to
Dirr, the black locust, common locust, yellow or white locust...  He
gives Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermis as the thornless
honeylocust...

Yep..don't have to rake the leaves, but they do, like you say, make a
continual mess on walks and decks.  They do get absorbed when they
hit land, tho'.

I don't pull as many black locust seedlings as boxelder.  I loathe
and despise that tree - not one redeeming feature that I can think
of...well, maybe that young ones are easy to pull:-)    I am
convinced that if left alone for 5 years, this entire property (and
esp. the gravel parking area) would turn into a boxelder forest.
Also, some blinkin' maple litters the drive with seedlings every year
from my blowing leaves down it..pull literally thousands of those
suckers, but am not sure who is exactly responsible as we have a
bunch of maples of different sorts around here.

One tip on getting rid of black locust...don't try to cut down
suckers or pull them - only encourages the roots to sprout more.
Simply defoliate them and keep it up - two or three times will kill
the sucker - just don't let leaves form and stay long enough to feed
the roots.

I didn't believe this when I was first told it, but tried it and it
works a treat.  Not terribly decorative, but it works.  Once dead,
you can, of course remove the sapling.  Worked for me on a couple
that were about 12' tall.  First I cut them back hard and then let
them leaf out again and removed the leaves...got them to a height I
could manage easily.  Only had to defoliate them twice last year and
they died..tee hee :->  Do not love black locust's either...tho' they
make good firewood.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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> From: Diann Barbee Thoma <diannthoma@EARTHLINK.NET>
> Date: Friday, September 01, 2000 10:34 AM
>
> Your note is somewhat amusing, Marge!  But I just want to clarify
that
> locusts with thorns are honey locusts, not black locusts.
>
> Another thing I like about black locust is that their leaves don't
need to
> be raked.  (On the other hand, they're constantly falling all year
littering
> everything!)  And yes, the suckers that never go away.  HOWEVER,
with 4 huge
> locust trees, I only pull about 8 suckers a month.  On the other
hand, with
> two Norway Maples (now that's a tree I could very successfully and
happily
> live without), I start pulling about 150 seedlings a month in the
Spring;
> I'm down to 5 a week now.  If you don't watch out, you have
adolescent Maple
> trees growing all around the perimeter-just what you want.
>
> Diann
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