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Honey Locust Coppicing

 
Posts: 26
Location: Hilton Head Island SC
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*back story start*
So I'm planting a green wall for my mom to block out the dirt road view from the front of her house.
The planting section is 180 yards long and 20 yards wide - she has a HUGE front yard and its mostly to prevent illegal night hunters. Its probably 150 yards from house to road but "bullets" can make that.
I'm planning 3 layers - single line cold hardy citrus right next to road, then single line honey locusts, then moso bamboo.
*back story end*

I read that you plant honey locusts 30-60ft apart but my question is if I'm planning on coppicing them how close should I plant them?
Also will they block the bamboo if planted dense?
Moso is the largest bamboo i can grow in this area but its slower growing.
 
Posts: 123
Location: West Iowa
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If trying to make something impenetrable, something like a foot apart if you are going to keep cutting them and make them some spiny wall that you don't want someone to enter. maybe plant some smaller bamboo that has culms closer together, too.
 
Darnell Brawner
Posts: 26
Location: Hilton Head Island SC
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The locust is "thornless" or so the ebay seller says and good luck to the guy who gets threw the wall of flying dragon oranges.
The citrus will stop the hunters by themselves since by blocking line of sight.
Where my mother lives the most popular form of illegal night hunting is to drive around in a pickup and shine a spot light into fields next to roads.
If there are deer they kind of just stair at the light giving the guy with the gun time to take his shot. If you shoot one its just a simple process of driving into the field via a near access road or one guy gets out to drag the deer to the road while the truck circles around. Put deer in the back of the truck and your done. So no line of sight no night hunting.

I'm thinking if Honey Locust can grow at 40-50 ft H and 40-50 ft wide and they grow up at around the same rate as out. If i harvest around 20' H since my citrus max out at 10ft.
I could probably plant at 15ft or maybe 10ft apart and keep an unhindered growth rate . Feeding the citrus on one side and maybe blocking the bamboo on the other.

I was just wondering if you have a dense grouping of trees how effective is that to blocking a slow creeping bamboo or does the bamboo just blow past like it was bear ground.
I wasn't to keep the moso since it looks so awesome at its full height. I can always just put in a root barrier to product the locust and citrus. 500ft of that stuff isn't cheap but its not undoable.
On the other side of the moso a simple mowing a few times a year is all you really need shoots are huge, spaced out and not super fast grower (in bamboo terms).
 
Posts: 31
Location: NE Ga, Zone 7b/8a
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Moso is really slow to get established and start sizing up. My colony is only 25' tall after 5 years, although your climate may work a little better. Golden, giant gray Henon, and rubromarginata will establish a lot faster but are more aggressive in terms of spreading. I don't think a dense stand of locusts will slow down the bamboo rhizomes much if there is moisture in that direction. I've noticed that they tend to follow moisture so that is something to consider.
Have you considered the trench method for controlling the runners? It would be a lot cheaper than 500' of root barrier.
 
Darnell Brawner
Posts: 26
Location: Hilton Head Island SC
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THANKS for the advice I think the trench method will do the trick.
Giant Grey looks amazing and since its drought tolerant i think a better fit. I'll put the moso on an island in a pond on the property.

Its not that I'm really in a hurry I'm planting everything but the bamboo by seed. The bamboo I'm tinkering with tissue culture.
How thick are your moso canes after 5yrs?
The property is in SE Ga 8b.
Have you tried mixing your bamboo to create a one stop shop grove for tomato stakes, basket weaving, arrows, and lumber?
 
Posts: 224
Location: east and dfw texas
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moso is also eatable another tree might be osage orange for cutting and blocking
 
Stephen Layne
Posts: 31
Location: NE Ga, Zone 7b/8a
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Giant grey henon and golden bamboo are both quite drought tolerant once established. I would plan on keeping the soil moist the first couple of years. My rubromarginata stand is my source of tomato stakes as it produces 25' tall canes which are more than an inch in diameter. The moso colony is producing 2" diameter canes after 5 years of growth and is about 25' tall. All of the species mentioned will produce strong canes for staking, poles, ect.
I bought field grown divisions from Lewis Bamboo, and had a 100% survival rate, once a colony establishes and produces runners, you can dig up canes that pop up in the wrong spots and pot them up. I find that it takes a few months to an entire summer to find out if the potted up plant will survive. Once it sends up additional canes, you know the division is viable. It takes a while, but is a cheap way to get strong, healthy divisions for free.
Rubromarginata is so tough that I have pulled up rhizomes and planted them elsewhere under a 1' of mulch and some have survived to produce new plants.

Bamboo's love a thick mulch.
 
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