Wild honey locusts are tough trees. They often sport absolutely wicked thorns! In cultivation, many people like to avoid these thorns by growing and planting thornless honey locusts (herein THL), which are often considered a subspecies of the thorny wild honey locusts.
Honey locust was one of the trees profiled in the book “Tree Crops” by J. Russell Smith. The pods were noted for their sweet quality as animal fodder, observing that “the cows eat the beans as fast as they fall” and that it “offers a great crop possibility to a million square miles of the eastern United States in the climates of corn and cotton”.
THL are very common street trees, displaying their adaptability to very tough conditions like lack of water, lack of rooting area, heat radiating from pavement, fumes, salt…and THL grows beautifully!
Other great qualities of this tree are its nitrogen fixation, its light shade which is great for silvopasture systems, and quick growth.
What Is Nitrogen Fixation?
Nitrogen fixation is essentially when a plant can convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form which can be used in the soil by plants.
Generally, if a plant can fix its own nitrogen, it can more easily become independent and live in more challenging contexts with lower fertility.
THL is a good candidate for top work grafting to excellent varieties. We have had good luck with wedge, whip and tongue, and single bud bark grafts in may.
Varieties Available This Year:
THL Seedlings: these seedlings are grown from nice mother trees with good form and pod production. Being seedlings, there is a small chance that they will come out with thorns, and anecdotally they can begin to express thorns upon heavy injury. However most of these seedlings will come out as beautiful thornless trees with tons of pods! Sizes will range from 18-36″ tall.
What Are Seedlings?
Seedlings are plants that have been grown directly from a seed. They are genetic individuals whose traits that are not exactly known. Seedlings are in contrast with plants which have been cloned, as cloned plants are sure to have certain characteristics.
Often seedlings share characteristics with their parents, but exactly how much is shared depends on the species of plant. Having good parents certainly doesn’t hurt!
Growth Parameters:
Expect a tough, full size tree that is adaptable to poor soil conditions and loves sunlight
Tree Sizes
Small Trees can generally be managed from ground level.
Orchard sized trees can often be managed from ground level but generally will require a ladder for pruning and harvesting at maturity.
Full size trees are large trees that, after a certain point, will require assistance from an arborist to manage pruning safely.
