honey and black locusts

I have both of these trees germinating in pots. Would it be ok to allow them once they start growing to just use the sun outside in 40 degree weather then bring them in at night or during freezing. I've planted quite a bit and need to use my lights for my peppers and tomatoes?

What's your location Justin?

Lol my bad.. I am in northern Vermont zone 4

I'm not familiar with the honey tree but black locust are pretty hardy. Peppers and tomatoes like it hot. The best advice I've received on tomatoes was from my grandmother. "Tomatoes need hot nights" I remember her saying. It's always worked for me. Check into Fresno peppers too. They are self seeders and taste like jalapeños.

I would just not let the seedlings be exposed to frost. Other than that they will just think it's an oddly cool spring. They might not grow very fast till the weather warms up though. Any that are not yet sprouted might wait, unless you can contrive to keep these pots warmer till they do.

Well I'm willingbto bring them in every night...and in my cold frame. I also keep them against the house on the south side and utilize the thermal mass of the house. Thank you for your replie. I have about 120 black locusts planted. Looking to reforest at least a few of my 10 acres.

My hats off to you, that's lots of dedication and work! Would love to see pics when you complete the project. I would give you a Permies Apple for your efforts if I could figure out how to do it. Lol

Lol well it's going to be a lifelong project, and I'm gonna go at it slightly haphazardly with some planning. I have a river that actually separatesthe 20 acres we "own"(who really owns their land) and the other 10 acres is a pure zone 5 type environment,mainly due to limited accessibility. Ther is a swamp over the other side as well. So I'll definitely have an area to pull stock from and for firewood. I definitely need to start identifying flora and fauna. And perhaps start my mushroom logs out there.

I understand where you're coming from. I've lived at my new homestead for four months. I'm just now seeing the place come to life.

Well we've been here for two years but Permaculture is a new concept for me. I have wanted to reforest my property because trees are way better than fields always. I'm excited for this but it's gonna be a lot of work. It's funny I ran into Permaculture just looking at gardening videos on YouTube and ran unto no till gardening then deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole I went and found this whole world of Permaculture. It's funny I signed up for this site without even realizing what it was for atleast a year. Even had Gaia's garden from a friend who works for Chelsea green publishing. But was blind to it.

Once planted in the ground, protect your seedling locusts from deer browsing. Deer at my location browsed every single locust I planted right to the ground and killed each and every one!

Welcome to Permies Justin. Lots of Vermonters here. Consider starting a project thread.

I've planted both locusts from seed. You do need to protect them from animals for the first year or two.

Thank you all, cj where is an appropriate forum for starting a thread. And what do people do for protecting trees...just looking for ideas. I have a fee thoughts of my own but wondering what clever things you all have intelligently came up with.

Justin DeVico wrote:Thank you all, cj where is an appropriate forum for starting a thread.

Start a new topic in the projects thread

Ahh thank you, where in vt are you near?

Just south of Rutland

Justin DeVico wrote: And what do people do for protecting trees...just looking for ideas.

The above ground portions of the trees now get protected with 6 foot tall cylinders of chicken wire.

To protect the roots from gophers and ground squirrels I plant each tree in a wire pot made of 1/2 inch hardware cloth. I design the pots so they will burst outwards from the growth pressure of the enlarging trees.

Love the wire pot idea.

Ben Falk has done some research on that:

https://www.facebook.com/wholesystemsdesign