Beware of cutting down Locust!

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TradEddie

Minister of Fire
Jan 24, 2012
981
SE PA
About six weeks ago, I reluctantly cut down a small locust that I had imagined would be used to heat my house sometime in my long away retirement. Unfortunately the tree was not growing well, and was overhanging my already deeply shaded garden, resulting in a large bare patch of lawn, and leaning directly towards my house. With deep regret, I cut it down, but the tree is having its revenge; my entire garden has now been infected with locust shoots attempting to take over. I mow the lawn, and before the grass is long enough to cut again, the locust shoots have grown 6-8 inches, they are everywhere.

Beware the revenge of the locust!

TE
 
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Move that garden. Start a locust grove.:) They can be persistent . You might have to rototill. BTW is it because you 're getting sun there now?
 
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Can you post some pics of those shoots? I have a similar thing going on here.
 
Locust is good, its not like sumac. Let them grow. haha...famous last words.
Ive read locust does that but have not witnessed it. Its labeled invasive. Which oddly is not a term they use on Aspen or cottonwoods. When they use the words, "pure stands" meaning the root suckers are cloning new trees. For people who work in property maintenance this coyld mean a landscaping nightmare. But for us farmer types we just get a machine with a root rake and pull out the roots.
Not a case of stump grinding but removing the whole system.
 
That's what I've got, suckers popping up everywhere. While the main tree was growing, they appeared occasionally in my lawn, but in the weeks since I cut down the tree, they have sprouted every few feet. The mower will take care of them I hope, and the good news is that some of the new shoots are back in the woods where they might get to grow to maturity.

TE
 
I have had shoots come out of BL rounds. The stuff grows like a weed. Excellent for a firewood grove.
 
About six weeks ago, I reluctantly cut down a small locust that I had imagined would be used to heat my house sometime in my long away retirement. Unfortunately the tree was not growing well, and was overhanging my already deeply shaded garden, resulting in a large bare patch of lawn, and leaning directly towards my house. With deep regret, I cut it down, but the tree is having its revenge; my entire garden has now been infected with locust shoots attempting to take over. I mow the lawn, and before the grass is long enough to cut again, the locust shoots have grown 6-8 inches, they are everywhere.

Beware the revenge of the locust!

TE
Drill several holes in the top of the stump. Apply roundup. You can also let some off the new offshoots grow a foot tall, then scrape the bark off of the top end. Tie a rag around the scraped area. Saturate with roundup.
This worked for me.
 
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