I've planted a patch of black locust next to my fence line. 10 years later they started putting up shoots on the fence line , about ten feet away. This is one way another is to plant root cuttings where you want a permanant fence line. It will be big enough to hang an electric fence in about 5-7 years and barbed at about 10. Not for every one or every app, but smart for long term. Someone commented on shade factor. Animals need shade. Locust can be pollarded around 12- 14 years as well. This means your fence can produce fence posts and the foliage is great forage. Seeds may be toxic to horses though.
I was on another Post recently and one person complained of the Black Locust Thorn going right though the sole of his boot and out the top of his foot. Many complained of Flat tyres. Does the Honey Locust have the Thorn issues also, and are they attached to the Bean when they fall off the Tree?
Are Black Locust seed pods... "Many parts of the plant, including the leaves, inner bark, young shoots, pods and seeds, are toxic to humans and many animals, with horses being particularly susceptible."
Really enjoyed your interview with John Kempf - I am farming in Central Florida - zone 9, what do you think about Moringa olifera as an option for cattle? Thanks
I always collect these and feed them to my goats and pigs, I also think they are OK to feed them to rabbits. My old neighbor told me that when she was a little girl the children used to open the pods and eat the sweet goo from inside, I have not tried it
Honey Locust Gleditisia triacanthose does not fix nitrogen. plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_gltr.pdf (That is to say, it doesn't associate with rhizobium bacteria, which does the N fixing, not the plants themselves)
I’ve used cardboard, which can be fitted closely around the trunk to exclude weed growth. I cover the cardboard with wood chips, and it’s been working pretty well. I suspect that landscaping cloth could work as well, but I am reluctant to add plastic to the soil. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us.
The grafted varieties generally do produce more pods depending what tree it came from. I would assume the small energy expenditure of growing thorns wouldnt make a difference in pod production. They have very high producing varieties of cuttings from africa.
Good to know!! We have many of these trees growing wild outside our pasture and I'm always cautious about what my horses have access to. Also wanted to identify these trees for firewood. Are they good for chickens?
@@shnnnhickman Thank you so much for sharing that! That's going right in my homestead notes notebook. :) Are there any other similar, natural things your chickens love? At a place I was buying raw milk they were feeding their chickens raw milk and it gave the eggs a really nice texture and hard shells.
Back to the honey locust, I focus on the smaller fresh leaves and strip the leaflets off the stems before bagging them for the freezer. If the leaf looks larger then a beak full I might cut it in half but mostly I just look for the little juicy leaves. And the list is long on what to feed the chickens. One trick we found was to leave tuna size cans out over night in the garden with the liquid from the fermented chicken feed to catch earwigs to feed to the chickens. Flax, oregano, chickweed, lamb’s quarter, millet, sorghum, clover, and dandelions in the yard for them to nibble on. They even eat the new growth of grass and raspberry leaves, and carrot and radish greens if they’re chopped up. We also leave logs or larger stones around that you can lift up to expose the insects for the birds to eat. They like to dust bath in the spots where we’ve pulled garlic out of the garden. They’ve been digging down to peck at my Sunchoke roots as well.
Thank you for the info. Please put the bird netting on the top of the tubes. It comes w the tubes free if u request it. Birds go down into the tubes but cant get back out because they cant spread their wings so they die. Please protect them from that.
Are they actively grazing that in the establishment phase? If so are they taking additional measures to protect trees? I feel like without a hot wire on those tubes our cows would just knock them down. Thanks for sharing!
It's great to see someone recommending this wonderful tree. This was one of Russel Smith's most recommended tree crop trees in his classic book Tree Crops: A permanent agriculture.
