Black Locust, permaculture food forest tree

[m081779]

I'm surprised you guys didn't mention that the black locust flowers are edible. It's not springtime without some black locust fritters, in my humble opinion.

[s37d]

thought black locust was poisonous to animals

[popebenadict16]

Cool vid man.would be nice to live in the country.

[Gilla1ness]

It's also very drought tolerant, and grows well in harsher conditions than some other trees. If they do get any rot problem, it could be from living in wetter conditions. Cause out in the desert the main problems they get are bugs. Beetles eat them just like goats do! Great vid!

~1NESS~

[MrJuicemon]

@Gilla1ness Depends how u see it. insect attack is good. means the nitrogen in it it is entering the food chain as insect protein and moving on :)

[RonRay]

I've always believed Black Locust to be an excellent tree! If it doesn't have competition for sun light though, you will soon have a "grove" of saplings (which in some case is a good thing). But if it's mowed regularly while young, it's not too bad. It even works well for knife handle material (colorful and tough), although not many people use it for that.

[jihadacadien]

Cool video and great info, thanks!

[Humblefactory]

Locust is hard to find in lumber yards, because it is very hard on blades, and very crooked in general. You may have to get friendly with a friend with a woodlot.

As for the nitrogen, being a legume, it has nitrogen fixing bacteria living in nodules on its roots, so like Paul said, the bacteria share fix nitrogen while the tree is alive.

[FreemanOftheMind]

Great vid - i love this series

[ClaraZettkin]

Im puzzled. How does that go together: Nitrogenfixer and does not rot?? If it does not rot, how can it release the N? Great vid though Paul!

[paulwheaton12]

@ClaraZettkin it shares nitrogen while it is alive! A healthy tree is 4% fungicide by weight. I think that when it gets to a certain age, it stops making the fungicide and then begins to rot.

[gottherne]

@ClaraZettkin The roots of the black locust produces a nodule which leaches nitrogen into the surrounding soil. Its works great as a sister tree for fruit trees, especially heavy feeders such as the larger fruit trees.

[MrJuicemon]

@ClaraZettkin 2 things Leaf fall and root shedding

[RedMarineNex]

@ClaraZettkin As soon as you trim a nitrogen fixing plant, it drops off it's roots (a tree's roots are always proportional to it's height). Once the roots are dropped off, the nitrogen nodules that are attached to the now dead roots become available to the soil (adds carbon as well).

For this reason, all nitrogen fixing trees should be trimmed, preferably for height rather than width. It should also be noted that the tree itself doesn't fix nitrogen, but the bacteria that live on the roots.

[docsimonson]

Sounds like the perfect wood with which to make raised beds for a square foot garden. I was thinking of cedar, but if I can find Black Locust, that would be much better! Thanks, Paul!!

[paulwheaton12]

@docsimonson I wouldn't use cedar anywhere near a garden

[docsimonson]

@paulwheaton12 Ya big ol' meanie! Ya say sumpin' like dat and dun say why not... Dat's not right. Anyway... Why wouldn't you use cedar near a garden? Are there toxins in the cedar? does cedar inhibit the growth of other plant species? Inquiring minds want to know!

[paulwheaton12]

@docsimonson Cedar has allelopathic stuff - sorta like a naturally occuring herbicide. It will make your growies sad.

[VonLeachim]

@paulwheaton12 brilliant comment, just sent me off down a rabbit hole at just the right time , cheers

[VonLeachim]

just got an allotment garden 20ftx20ft

...been dug over for years before .....any suggestions ?

[paulwheaton12]

@VonLeachim perhaps one black locust tree on the north side? And I strongly recommend raised beds - and black locust logs make an excellent border.

[VonLeachim]

@paulwheaton12 ok , thanks, bit of a broad question I know :)