Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [NAFEX] black locust

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "road's end farm" <organic101@linkny.com>
  • To: griffingardens@earthlink.net, North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] black locust
  • Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 21:28:37 -0500

You have a very good point, especially in areas in which the species is not already common. Here in the Finger Lakes it's already a very common tree. Locust stakes were commonly used for fenceposts in vineyards, especially before the introduction of treated wood and metal posts. I don't know whether locust was already in the area, was planted for use as fenceposts, or whether green wood was used for posts and some of them sprouted. I haven't seen it invading the woodlots here -- has anyone else in this area? maybe I've just missed it -- but it will certainly invade open ground and brush lots, as well as establishing as a weed in vineyards. I did warn in my posting that it's invasive, but probably should have stressed this more.

--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly

On Thursday, March 13, 2003, at 08:54 PM, Griffin Gardens wrote:

Respected members,
  There is some good in everything I suppose, but the value in the buckthorn hedge, the ornamental European honeysuckle from the garden center, and the black locust outside of its range in the southeastern US is far outweighed by the harm to native vegetation done by these extremely invasive exotics. As edge species, all of them establish readily in our fragmented forests and in our natural prairie/forest borders, before invading and out-competing the natives in both directions. You may drive a long way in SE Wisconsin before you can even find a place where it is possible to enter a native oak woods through the living picket fence that surrounds it, and you can almost stand and watch as a black locust clone takes over a sand prairie in Central WI. Bur oak makes good fence posts, lots of natives trees make good firewood, and honeybees and the native insects that are attracted to black locust flowers are less likely to pollinate the native pl ants that bloom in that season.
  Even though it has been 8 years since I carefully cut every one of the seed bearing age trees of these species in my 25 acre oak/maple woods, and most of those that border it on my neighbor's land, I still pull many hundreds of seedlings every spring 
  I would hope that aware NAFEX members would not choose to contribute to this huge problem.
  For more info:  http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/rops1.htm  
 
Thanks,
Dave  
in Central MN, zone 4a

 



Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page