Thornless and Podless Honey Locust vs Black Locust

I have ALOT of black locust on my property, more than I can deal with.  But its a great tree species as everyone here knows, nitrogen fixer and all that. I pollard them feed the  branches to my cows who love (leaves have comparable protein to alphalfa) them then use branches as fuel and I make biochar from them. I  will start to chip them to mulch my garden too.  

Ive wanted to get some thornless honey locust on my property and feed the pods to the cows. But I have nt sourced any yet. I do have some seedings growing in the house but it will be a long time before I have pods from those babies.  Anyways my neighbour has trees that have confused me for years. They look like honey locust but Ive never see pods on them. So I asked her what they were and they are honey locust but a pod-less (not pod free) variety and is willing to give me some seedlings. My question is if they dont produce pods is there any point in having them since I have lots of black locust. Should I bother?

Jeff Marchand wrote:I have ALOT of black locust on my property, more than I can deal with.  But its a great tree species as everyone here knows, nitrogen fixer and all that. I pollard them feed the  branches to my cows who love (leaves have comparable protein to alphalfa) them then use branches as fuel and I make biochar from them. I  will start to chip them to mulch my garden too.  

Ive wanted to get some thornless honey locust on my property and feed the pods to the cows. But I have nt sourced any yet. I do have some seedings growing in the house but it will be a long time before I have pods from those babies.  Anyways my neighbour has trees that have confused me for years. They look like honey locust but Ive never see pods on them. So I asked her what they were and they are honey locust but a pod-less (not pod free) variety and is willing to give me some seedlings. My question is if they dont produce pods is there any point in having them since I have lots of black locust. Should I bother?

I have black, honey and purple locust and they all have thorns.  I think if you want pods it is going to be up to you.  

The Sunburst honey locust, Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermis Suncole, is podless and thornless as is the Shade Master.   I have the beginnings of a food forest so I wouldn't want podless.  You can eat the pods if you need to, and it's a way to propagate down the road.   As a caveat, I am not a neat gardener.  I love the life that springs from areas that are a little wild.  If you want a super neat garden then get the podless version.  

Hi Jeff,

Did your property come with the locust or did you plant them?
I’m looking at getting some going on my property and would just like to generally hobnob with someone about their characteristics.
My goal is to have fodder for eventual animals as well as firewood and rot resistant wood for various around the property projects.

Thanks,
Shawn

They were there when I bought the place.  They had taken over some areas that had become no go zones due to their thorns.  Cutting them down only encourages them unless you follow up with animals and or mowing with machines.  Ruminants LOVE black locust leaves.  Cattle will eat only so much in one go. Goats will eat them 24x7 if they could.  Best succes in eliminating them I had was to cut trees then graze with goats for a year. Second year I put pigs in to disturb roots. That seemed to do them in.

In their place they are a great tree. I have some in open fields. Cattle keep the new shoots under control. I pollard a third of branches each year on each tree and feed to beef. Branches make excellent kindling. Wood burns very hot and long. A very desirable firewood.

Ive used them as fence posts. Its true the heartwood is rot resistant but the sapwood is not.  The wood is very hard which makes driving nails when fencing difficult. I prefer to use eastern white cedar (thuja occidentallis) for fencing since it is a softwood and takes a nail so much easier.

In early June my homestead smells of jasmine and the sound of bees buzzing fills the air.

I still plan to plant rows of BLs as a silvopasture to fix N feed my honey bees , my cattle and my wood stove.

Best Regards and feel free to ask any question about this sonewhat controversial tree.