permaculture

["Margaret L. Wilson" <booldawgs@frontiernet.net>]

I have black locust taking over my yard.  It has sprung up under the house, 
invaded water, leach and septic lines.  It was in the yard when we bought 
the property.   I would be careful planting it as a border.
Margaret
http://farfarawayfarm.blogspot.com/
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "paul wheaton" <paul@richsoil.com>
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 10:59 AM
Subject: [permaculture] what makes black locust last so long?


> I have asked this question about 20 times in all sorts of different
> places.  Any time anybody seems like they might possibly know ...
>
> So I ask it again here.
>
> In case nobody knows, I hope that somebody might carry this question
> with them and maybe some day spot an answer.
>
> So we know that black locust wood lasts a long time.  Old time farmers
> would call it "stone wood" claiming that it would last longer than
> stones when used as fence posts.
>
> Why?  Does it have some anti-fungal property?  Anti-microbial?  I've
> heard some people say something about it could be because it is just
> so dense - but that doesn't seem right either.  Other dense woods seem
> to decompose fairly rapidly.
>
> Would it be less than wise to use black locust as a garden border
> because of some alelopathic effect as it decomposes?  Or would it
> somehow make an excellent garden border because it will last 30 years,
> and what little of it that does rot will pass on the n-fixing it did
> when it was alive.
>
> I've been trying to get an answer to this question for three years ...
> maybe I'm asking it wrong, or researching it wrong ... or something
> ...
>
> Help!
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> Subscribe or unsubscribe here:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
> Google command to search archives:
> site:https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/permaculture searchstring