Black Locust pre-bonsai...

[DavidBoren]

So this tree kept growing in the middle of my back yard, regardless of how many times I mowed over it. Its persistence earned my respect enough to haphazardly dig it up and stick it in a pot.

In this pot it thrived and exploded with growth... which was all broken off earlier this summer in an unfortunate accident. The trunk was actually broken pretty much all the way through in two places, and the top two thirds of the tree tore free at the upper-most break in the trunk. The lower of the two breaks in the trunk seems to have held and healed enough to allow for fresh growth above it.

After the accident, its first new growth was eaten by rabbits... I thought this was surely a death blow for my Locust, but a little bit of fertilizer seems to have possibly turned things around. Oh, and putting it on a table, out of reach from said rabbits... that probably helped, too.

All my hopes are in this lowest new growth I have circled. Everything above the red line will be sacrificed when the time is right.

 

[DavidBoren]

Took like 4 inches of bull$#!+ dirt out of the pot... just dug until I found roots. Apparently, I had buried a good portion of the trunk. Now, it is less buried.

 

[19Mateo83]

Very interesting tree species. The black locust is a nitrogen fixing plant, the fallen leaves help build nitrogen in the soil. It also has edible flowers in the spring. It often called a “homestead” tree because it can do everything. It can be used to feed livestock, to improves poor soils and because of its rot resistance the wood can be used for fence poles and sill boards for building foundations. When used for firewood it also has one of the highest BTU ratings, just under hickory and Osage orange. It has a pinnately compound leaf like acacia, mimosa, walnut, pecan and Brazilian rain tree…it may be difficult to get them to reduce but this will still be an interesting tree to play with. It should grow rather quickly. I have been meaning to collect one or three of these to play with

 

[19Mateo83]

Are there any bigger ones around your house?

 

[DavidBoren]

Are there any bigger ones around your house?

Yes, several 50-footers my back yard/the neighbor's yard behind my house. Super neat, twisted trunks, and good texture to the bark. They are mostly covered from the ground up in Ivy, though.

 

[19Mateo83]

Yes, several 50-footers my back yard/the neighbor's yard behind my house. Super neat, twisted trunks, and good texture to the bark. They are mostly covered from the ground up in Ivy, though.

And chance you can get an air layer on a branch somewhere? I’m betting that these will root easily. They will also put suckers out from roots when they are damaged, part of the reason they are considered invasive in certain areas. They are a very hard to kill species once they get established.

 

[DavidBoren]

I can see if there are any branches I can access/reach. I am going to air layer a branch off the maple in my back yard next spring, so I can look for a good Black Locust branch, as well.

What size of branch do you want?

 

[19Mateo83]

I can see if there are any branches I can access/reach. I am going to air layer a branch off the maple in my back yard next spring, so I can look for a good Black Locust branch, as well.

What size of branch do you want?

I was thinking it would put you a few years ahead to have an air layered one. There’s tons of them here I could dig and layer so don’t worry about me

 

[DavidBoren]

I figured as much [you having plenty of them, that is]... a bit too late, though. I seen your location AFTER submitting the reply. Lol.

 

[DavidBoren]

I needed that pot to try save something bigger, so I put me Locust in something else. Better soil/substrate and bettet drainage, for sure.

Almost even looks like a bonsai tree. Lol.

Almost...

 

[Potawatomi13]

Cutting/destroying Ivy on trees is best idea if wishing survival of trees. Here has become invasive destructive weed in places worse than himalayan blackberries

 

[DavidBoren]

It looks like it survived the repot... although it might be too early to really tell.

I should have taken pictures when I switched pots, but at the time I was more concerned with the process at hand. The root system had two large roots pointing in opposite directions, and I cut one of the roots off to fit it into the new tray-thing. I chose which large root to cut based on the fact that only one of them had several very long roots hanging from it. It turned out to be on the side the tree is leaning, so I think this root is also in a better position to support the tree in a tray. I kind of just put some of long, smaller roots over here, and the rest over there. There wasn't enough roots to fan out, just some long freaking ropes I coiled up in opposite corners of the tray, like this: