Black locust flopping over

Planted 25 black locusts last year, and I was overjoyed to find that they were outgrowing their tree sleeves and now they were ready for the sleeves to go. So, I whip off the sleeves and the locusts immediately flop over like a wet noodle. Apparently, conditions within the sleeve allowed them to grow leaves like crazy and the structure supported them like a tomato cage. The trunk was under developed.

What do I do, permies? Is there any hope? At the very least I have learned not to put tree guards around black locust.

almost anything grown in a tree tube will flop over like a noodle. staking is usually required once the need for the guard has passed. generally a good tall stake where you can move the connection to the tree progressively lower as the tree toughens up works best.