The Devil tree

When we moved into our new home I first saw this tree, not knowing what to call it we called it 'The Devil Tree'. Okay, not really the devil, but I can't think of a single nice thing to say about it. The Honey Locust tree:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/38373/index.html


Horrendous, appalling, vicious, a truly horrible noxious, invasive weed of a tree... without the right to have anything remotely nice ever said about it.

I believe the thorns are poisonous, a scratch WILL get infected... if you step on a spine, even with shoes you will have to get a pliers to remove the HUGE vicious spine from deep in your foot... makes cactus look cuddly.

It's so horribly invasive that practically overnight it will spring up many spiney babies up to 8 ft away from the original tree!

I can't imagine anyone EVER wanting or liking this tree. The bean pods (before we cut it down) were a real mess/very time consuming to rake up and overwhelming in quantity... clogging gutters and littering the yard like brown piles of poo!

Try and try, it just keeps regrowing. I've cut them down, burned the stump, dug up the large roots... any tiny root left in the ground starts growing and I feel like I'm loosing this battle! I don't want to poison the ground, I'm not sure any poison would work anyway.

How can I kill this tree?!

Well, at least they're native, and there is a place for them. If your nasty neighbor kid likes to climb your trees, plant one! (Or else just plant the kid!) I had a nightmare once about being chased by a bear and the only escape route was to climb a really thorny locust. I woke up in a cold sweat! They also have value for wildlife, and at a distance their sunset silhouette can be quite interesting visually. Of course, I love poison-ivy too . . .

OK, get some bruch killer and just treat the sprouts. Use the kind that's active as a basal-bark treatment. You don't have to poison the soil, but if you just keep treating the sprouts you'll have the job done in a year or two.

Guy S.

You need to purchase a good herbicide labeled for stump treatment - Ortho Brush-B-Gon, Garlon, Pathway(Tordon), or something along those lines. When you cut the dastardly things down, squirt or paint all exposed cambium with whichever product you get; that should take care of it - though occasionally, you might get re-sprouting, requiring a second treatment.

I had a similar experience to Starhill...

I don't know but that tree is the devil!

I met my first honey locust when I went on a hunting trip in Kentucky I was on the back of an ATV going deeper and deeper in the woods and we kept passing these terrible looking trees. The guy dropps me off at a tree stand on a pine and for a good 400 ft circumference around me there was nothing but these trees covered in the meanest looking thorns I'd ever seen and all I could think was thank God for this one pine I was in, what if you were being chased by a bear or some other "bad or mad" animal and these thorned things were all you had to climb.

Thinking about that took up a good 2 hours will sitting out their waiting for the sunset...and I've had several nightmares since then about being chased by something in a forest full of them....I'm sure you've had dreams about this tree too.

Mininissandog, I've been meaning to ask you about the derivation of your unique screen name -- ?
Guy S.