The term “locust” can apply to several different species of trees with legume-like seed pods.
Locust trees are from the Fabaceae (legumes or pea family) family native to North America. Different locust trees are classified as part of the Gleditsia or Robinia genera. Meaning locusts can be trees or shrubs.
The most popular types of locust trees in North America are called black locust and honey locust.
In this article you’ll find all you need to know about the different types of locust trees, their uses and related planting processes.
The Victorians even believed there were secret meanings behind locust trees and other flower and tree species.
Honey Locust Trees (gleditsia triacanthos)
Among landscaping trees, honey locust has become very common, and with good reason. The honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) is a fast-growing tree.
Honey locusts, or Gleditsia triacanthos, are part of the Gleditsia genus. They’re also referred to as ‘thorny honeylocust’ or ‘thorny locust’.
The honey locust is a deciduous tree, meaning it tends to shed its leaves and flower petals. It’s native to the central North American region and can be found in soils along river valleys.
Honey locusts are hardy, strong and commonly able to tolerate wind storms, ice, soil compacting foot traffic, and pollution. They also grow fast – about 20 feet high in their first decade – and eventually up to 70 feet.
They have beautiful gray-brown barks and tiny, oval leaves that turn yellow in the fall. Most of the different varieties also produce pods as fruits with edible pulp inside them.
Search for them by their scientific name – gleditsia triacanthos – and create a beautiful landscape view for your garden.
What Does A Locust Tree Look Like?
How Many Types of Locust Trees Are There?
The New Mexico Locust
The New Mexico locust tree, or Robinia neomexicana, isn’t a Mexican tree, contrary to its name. It’s actually found mostly in the Southwest of the United States.
This locust tree species can grow into a tree or a shrub and it reaches heights of about 10 feet with beautiful purple branches and flower batches that bloom in spring and summer.
The Imperial Honey Locust
This type of honey locust, also known as Impcole, grows to about 35 feet high.
It has yellow-green flowers and feathery leaves that almost look like ferns. The leaves are green during spring and summer, yellow in the fall and shed in winter.
The Shademaster Honey Locust
The Shademaster honey locust tree has no thorns and grows faster than most locust trees. Reaching heights of 50 feet and upwards.
One advantage of growing Shademasters is that they don’t produce fruits. Meaning they’re easier to maintain than other locust trees.
The leaves of a Shademaster are green, though they turn yellow in the fall. The fragrant flowers are yellow in color and small in size.
The Skyline Honey Locust
The skyline honey locust, or Skycole, has beautiful leaves in pyramid-shaped ferns. Growing to heights of 45 feet and spreads of about 35 feet.
Like the Shademaster, the skyline doesn’t produce any fruits and it doesn’t have thorns.
The Bristly Locust
This honey locust, also known as Robinia hispida or ‘moss shrub’, is a shrub that grows up to 8 feet. It produces captivating pink flowers and green leaves.
Bristly locusts can spread and develop into an invasive species in the following states:
- Pennsylvania
- Michigan
- Ohio
Uses of Honey Locusts
These plants are cultivated for a variety of purposes which include:
High-Quality Wood
Honey locusts provide reliable wood used in building constructions and even furniture. Though its wood isn’t the main reason why it’s widely planted.
Food and Medicine
Honest locusts have edible seed pods, unlike black locusts’ pods which are harmful.
The pulp in honey locust seed pods can be used as food or even traditional, Native American medicine. Other consumption purposes of the honey locust include:
- Making tea
- Feeding livestock and wildlife, being from the pea family
- Producing beer
It should be noted, however, that a honey locust tree doesn’t play any part in producing actual honey. Its name has more to do with the pleasant taste of its pulp than anything else.
Landscaping
The main reasons they’re cultivated are for landscaping. Though the over-planting of this tree has presented some problems, such as:
- A greater number of pests and tree diseases.
- Barrier creations along rivers which block animals from reaching water streams.
- Invasion of farmlands, preventing crops from growing.
Black Locust Robinia Pseudoacacia Tree
Black locusts, or Robinia pseudoacacia, belong to the Robinia genus. They’re fast-growing, strong trees, found in the woodland areas along stream banks of the U.S.A.
The black locust robinia tree can tolerate poor soil, drought, pollution, and even salt. Growing up to 70 feet tall and 30 feet wide in areas with lots of sun and moderate moisture levels.
Black locust leaves are generally blue-green, small and oval, with short sharp thorns. They’re covered in blossoms in spring, before turning yellow and dropping in the fall.
Although, this does depend on the different varieties of locusts.
Popular Black Locust Varieties
The Twisty Baby Black Locust Tree
This Robinia pseudoacacia cultivar, better known as ‘Lace Lady’, can be cultivated as a tree or a shrub. It can reach heights of 20 feet tall when planted in the ground and 5 feet when planted in a gardening pot.
The name ‘Twisty Baby’ comes from the fact that this tree’s branches contort and spiral in an odd way. You can exaggerate the twist on this variety by pruning it back in the cold winter season.
The Purple Robe Black Locust Tree
This black locust tree variety is incredibly captivating to look at. Its leaves change depending on their stages:
- Blooming: green leaves with subtle purple hues.
- Fully formed: distinctly bronze-colored leaves.
The dense clusters of flowers on this tree are just as stunning and contrast well with the leaves in pink and purple shades.
The Frisia Black Locust Tree
This lovely cultivar is a bit smaller than other locusts with heights of up to 40 feet and spreads of 25 feet. But its beauty makes it ideal for decorative purposes. It has vivid yellow foliage that can at times turn into shades of lime green.
Uses of Black Locust Tree
Known for strength and durability, black locusts appealed to pioneers for different reasons. These included:
Strong Timber
Black locusts are considered hardwood trees, meaning they are denser than others.
“Hardwood trees are equipped with xylem vessels, which are used to carry and distribute water through the trees. Their cell walls are lined with lignin, an extremely tough material that is responsible for the tree’s hardness. This stands in stark contrast to softwood, where the vascular structure is not unlike a cluster of drinking straws.” — Maximum Yield
This makes black locust wood and excellent choice for building structures and making fence posts.
Its fast-growing aspect is a plus and also means that the black locust is cultivated a lot.
Long-Lasting Firewood
A black locust’s high density makes it hard to cut through but also more durable as firewood. It takes a long time to burn and provides greater efficiency than other trees.
Honey Production
The flowers on black locusts blossom lavishly, creating broad batches of blooms that attract honey bees.
“These flowers are attractive to bees and provide a good source of nectar. Therefore, black locust trees are planted in regions where honeybees are operating to help them with their honey production.” — Green and Vibrant
Ornamenting and Shading
The heavy blossoming of a black locust’s flowers also makes them ideal as an ornamental tree. Its flowers give out a wonderful fragrance and are white, pink, or purple in color. And the batches of flowers dangle from the tree and measure between 4 to 10 inches.
Black locusts’ branches are brittle and tend to grow sporadically, creating gaps. Meaning, they provide the perfect shade that plants growing below them need.
Problems with Locust Trees
In some areas, cankers and root collar rot are serious problems for most popular types of locust trees.
Cankers first appear as flattened or discolored surfaces on the branches and trunk of the tree. Over time, cankers can spread and completely girdle the tree, causing tree death. Cankers also cause slow growth, yellowing leaves or sparse leaves.
Root collar rot is a similar disorder that appears at the base of the tree as a yellow or white area.
To prevent canker and root collar rot, keep trees vigorous and healthy:
- Water during dry periods, especially if the tree isn’t in an irrigated lawn.
- Be careful when mowing around the tree not to injure the trunk because injuries provide an entry point for these diseases.
- Prune out infected branches, cutting limbs at least 12 inches below the infected area.
- Disinfect pruning tools between cuts with a solution of 1 part bleach to 10 parts water.
How to Plant and Grow Locust Trees
Plant locust trees in full sun, spaced at least 30 feet from other trees. Water trees frequently the first year as the roots become established. Older trees rarely need additional irrigation or fertilizing, especially if they are in an irrigated, fertilized lawn.
Preparation
Before you plant locust tree seeds, prepare them first by:
- Boiling enough water (3 to 4 times the volume of the seeds).
- Allowing the water to cool for 1 minute.
- Putting the seeds into the hot water container.
- Letting the water cool until it reaches room temperature.
- Removing the seeds from the container once they’ve swollen up to 3 times their size.
- Planting your locust tree seeds as soon as they’ve been removed.
Planting and Caring
Planting locust trees requires:
- A vast field to cultivate them and provide enough space.
- Soil that’s been conditioned with a mix of cottonseed meal and powdered gypsum.
- Lots of sun for them to grow in.
- The right time of year (it’s best to plant in spring or summer and avoid colder seasons).
- Adequate drainage for the vast amounts of water you’ll use.
Locust trees need to be watered intensively in the beginning but avoid waterlogging. As your trees grow, they’ll need less and less water but that doesn’t mean you can neglect them. You should prune them on a regular basis for proper growth by removing their dead branches.
Learn More About Gardening
Planting locust trees is often a great idea because of their many purposes listed above. But there’s a lot more you could be doing with your gardens to make it thrive.
Further reading:
- How to Plant and Take Care of Your Honey Locust Tree from Utah State University Extension
- Black Locust: A Multi-Purpose Tree Species for Temperate Climates from Purdue University
- This YouTube video teaches more about the locust tree.
The Gardening Channel helps you get your dream garden by providing advice on how to garden.
Learn more about great organic gardening ideas and tips. You’ll discover something new whether you’re a gardening beginner or a seasoned pro. Pun intended.
Photo from Freepik by @jannoon028
I have a honey Locust type tree, how often does its fruit Bean pods?
Thank you
I am getting to old to clean pods up. Is there a way to neuter this tree?
What is the best way to collect or get these bean pods off the ground?
Thank you
The beans provide food beans for small and large mammals and birds, even wild parrots where they are part of the landscape. Fallen, opened or unopened pods turn black and disintegrate into mulch. This enriches the soil. Unless you want to create grass – which is both unnatural and unhealthy for the soil as it requires copious amounts of fertilizers and pesticides/herbicides to keep nature “beaten into submission” for green grass, don’t remove the pods at all. Healthy is better. We have to ahievebetter compatibility with the natural world. We’ve already lost 76% of our insect life – soon there will be no pollinators, and no fruit on any tree, thanks too our earth-destroying fetishes and nonsensical ignorance – this includes maintaining gree grass. I am grateful to have pods on my locust bean tree. I enjoy seeing birds chomp into them, while the pods provde a mulch and cover that keep that unwanted ad even often GMO grass down.
please google the difference between to, too and two
I use a Ryobi ekectric battery mower every week or so to mow up pods. Works good but use safety glasses and keep kids and pets inside. Seeds sound like bullets bouncing off fence
thats what i would like to know too. IM exhausted cleaning these pods up and im just getting too old to keep up with the tree.
do you pull the dried seed heads off honey locust seedlings?
Recently we have had two mature black locust trees uproot and fall over. High winds have not been a factor. Why would this happen?
My mature locust tree has very few leaves this year. Some others around town look similar, but not as sparse as mine. What can I do about this? I love this tree!
I’m sorry that I saw this so late in the season. When my tree did that a few years ago, I deep root watered it for about 3 weeks, 2 times a week. It really came back. We had had a very lite snow total that winter. I also put in a few fertilizer spikes about 6 feet out from the trunk.
We have a podless Honey locust tree we planted three years ago.
The problem I have is the tree has developed iheavy droopy branches but the tree doesn’t seem to be getting much taller. Is there something we can do to help it grow up instead of out.
Cut some of the bottom branches that is what I have done and they eventually grow straight up.
I disagree with the statement that the leaves “eventually dry up and blow away”. If they’re in the grass, they stay where they landed; if they’re on pavement they blow around until it rains, at which point they stick together and form a soggy mat. Lawnmower set to mulching function does nothing to them dry or wet; you’re going to have to rake. You’re also going to be raking up the 8-inch stems, which is similar to raking pine needles–they clog up the tines and have to be removed by hand. Even without the seed pods, I’d never recommend planting this tree unless you hire a landscaper for yard maintenance or have a huge lot and put it far away from your house and driveway and let the debris lay.
I agree with you! It was planted in my backyard 20+ yrs ago by the HOA and I hate the thing! It drops leaves all season long and can’t use the patio without cleaning it up first! They don’t rake up or mow up and I’m responsible for fall & spring cleanup. I’ve never seen mine bloom and the pods are just as bad! Never plant this despicable tree!
I agree do you not plant these trees in your yard. The two that I had had to be removed because they were so messy and The Roots were moving gutter and the sidewalk up. Now my neighbors have three in there yards m the wind blows the leaves and the seeds into my yard. What a mess! The trees are beautiful in themselves but after a few years they become messy. And I don’t understand why because they were supposed to be seedless locust trees.
My neighbor has this tree and it is awful. It blows all over my front and back yard. It’s all over my patio, my deck, and patio. My driveway is stained. Of course, my gutters are clogged!! Be a good neighbor and don’t plant this tree.
I agree wholeheartedly. My neighbor has three locust trees in his yard and my yard is an absolute mess with leaves the small seeds are everywhere. I would recommend if you’re going to plant a tree like this plant it out in a field. I had two seedless locust on my parking and they were beautiful 3 years but then all of a sudden the roots begin to push the cement gutter and the sidewalks up besides losing the tiny seed pods everywhere my neighbor was complaining so I had to have the trees removed. I wish my neighbor would have his removed now.
Lately in the winter time, we find tiny black seeds stuck to our windows and siding. It seems to be coming from our black locust tree. They have to be scraped off which is difficult to do. Any advice on how to deal with this?
Those are most likely mold spores from nearby mulch or wood chips.
We have a large honey locus tree about 40 years old, Some of the roots are above ground We would like to cover the roots and plant some hostas around it. Will this harm the tree? Thank you
We have a 30ft tall locust tree in our yard. The bottom branches are blooming but the top 10ft of the tree appears dead. any suggestions? We’ve had plenty of rain and fertilizer. there are no apparent diseases.
I have a very old 40′ locust, has tiny green bugs….good or bad? , and how do I get rid of them
We have same problem. We have lived there for over 35 years. Last year we had a squirrel nest in tree and in spring had web worms all over. Not sure if related. Got rid of squirrels since they were also running all over my roof. I had tree trimmed hard so lost most of offshoots and it looked very tall and clean. We have a few worms again this year. Since this tree is very rooty can I put rockery down around about 15′ or so out from base since it is so hard to walk on or even mow our yard due to all the roots. Thought I might add some grasses, iris, I do have a huge oakleaf hydrangea growing under the tree also.
WhatI would like to know is the following:
How long does a locust tree take to bear fruit for the first time.
My leaves on our black locust are turning yellow at an alarming rate predominantly on one side. I do not see any suspicious problems on the trunk/bark. Well established
I had a honey locust tree removed and the stump ground out 2 summers ago. My wife put new dirt over the hole this year and planted grass. The grass grew really good for 3 weeks and then just died instantly, only in the spot the tree trunk was. Anyone have answers to this?
I had same thing happen with an ash stump. The problem is low nitrogen from the rotting wood. Even if wood is ground down, removed and soil placed over it, the nitrogen is low. You have to keep adding high nitrogen fertilizer after the grass seeds grows. I googled how to grow grass after stump removed.Best wishes!
What would eat the bark of the tree?
I have what I believe is a beautiful old thornless honey Locust tree. Two years ago I found and transplanted a volunteer sapling. It really started to branch out this year and in just wondering if I should prune it at this point in its life or give it some time. It is looking a lot like it’s parent tree which has a wonderful spread canopy. Thank you.
Can anyone tell me why a 3-year old Honey Locust tree will NOT flower?
Thank you!!!!
Our black locust is taking over the holly bush and maple. I dislike it and my husband loves it. The roots grow everywhere. Cut them down. Rats will come in your yard to eat the seeds.
I believe we have a hybrid honey locust tree. 3 years old. In full sun. Bark and leaves look healthy. It has never flowered! Any ideas as to why not?
Thank you so much!!!!
I have a locust shademaster . it makes clusters of little seeds on a stem. They fall ,then the stem falls. this is very messy. Is there a way I can make the tree Sterile?
Our thornless non flowering locust sends treelets up through shallow roots. My husband worries they will get in our sewer and water lines. Should we worry?
Recently moved from Colorado to Missouri. Best tree hands down I ever had before moving was a male, thornless, seedless Honey Locust. Absolutely no raking. Theoretically might clog a downspout but not my experience. They will gather in flowerbeds but compost nicely. Heavy snow never broke my tree though it bowed to the ground at times. Most easy clean up with a leaf blower. Great tree. Looking to plant another in Missouri.
Cottonwood & Maples a far worse!!!! They reseed and blow all over everywhere. How many locust seedling have you seen growing in your gutters and cracks of sidewalk?
“The New Mexico locust tree, or Robinia neomexicana, isn’t a Mexican tree, contrary to its name. It’s actually found mostly in the Southwest of the United States.”
The SW US? You mean where NEW Mexico is? ??
The tree is not called the Mexico Locust. It is NEW Mexico locust. It being found in the SW United States is not contrary to its name, it is literally exactly what the name denotes.
I have a thornless locust tree about 15 years (My favorite.) Branches appear dead but green shoots coming from trunk and one branch. IS it dying?
is there a locust tree that is hardy in zone 3 a? I live near edmonton, alberta, canada.
We also have a locust shade master. It is 50+ years old. Makes clusters of little seeds and stems. The seeds fall in early June, then the stems fall. We get piles of messy sticky seeds on the patio and on the solarium roof. Ones on the roof are extremely difficult to wash off. We have to use a window cleaning service. This is very messy for about four weeks. Is there a way we can make the tree sterile so it will not drop seeds? I have been out, continuously, sweeping up wet sticky seeds that leave stains on the patio. It is miserable for us and our puppy. PLEASE, how can we deter this from happening. WE ARE AT IT’S MERCY. We did not plant this tree.
When is the best time to transplant seedlings into the ground?
Last year I collected the seeds from another locust tree I have. Then grew them this year. I have about 10. Not sure is best to plant them out. Thanks in advance for your reply.