How to utilize my black locusts

Hey y’all! First time poster, long time voyeur

I have on my new property a fair amount of locust. Pretty much all of them were harvested at some point. So I have varying sized trees that are mostly from suckers off the main harvested stumps. Should I cut all the but the largest suckers to encourage thicker growth of a single main branch? Or perhaps I should leave a number of them?

Thank you for any help!

If you burn wood for heat, they are an excellent wood lot tree.  They sucker quickly and prolifically, as you observe.  The have a high heat content.  My advice would be to make bio char out of them, if you are not using them to heat.  Be careful with livestock around them.  The leaves have a toxin in them that is bad juju for animals.  

My understanding is they will take a lot of abuse.  Cut them all the way back and they will re-gen, as long as the roots are well established.  I think they are hard to kill, as they are a pioneer species.

Welcome to the forums.

If I continue to cut all but one of the suckers, can I encourage a single thick trunk, or would I get more efficient biomass growth by just letting it do its own thing?

Hi Rama,

For much, much more on black locust, see: https://permies.com/forums/jforum?module=search&action=search&forum_id=118&search_keywords=black+locust&match_type=all&search_in=ALL&forum=118&groupByTopic=true&sort_by=time&sort_dir=DESC&search_date=ALL&member_number=&member_first_name=&member_last_name=&member_match_type=memberPosted

Rama Malinak wrote:If I continue to cut all but one of the suckers, can I encourage a single thick trunk, ...?

Nothing wrong with leaving a central leader to for a trunk.  The tree will be healthier for it.  Keep cutting the scion and it will continue to produce copious suckers.  

If there is a market for rustic funiture, porch railings etc in your area, the suckers might grow out to the appropriate size in short order.  Might be worth checking into.  I know of a buyer that wants specific sized wood, but pays well for it.