# Honey locust trees as a nectar source?



## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

You come up and you can dig all the black locust trees you want....at a reasonable price. You only need about 10 good ones started to start a locust forest.....things almost grow like weeds.


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## kc in wv (Feb 1, 2006)

*Not to knock Peggjam out of getting some land cleared *

If you are in an area that has mining, talk to some of the reclaimation companies. They sometimes put black locust seed on the land they are reclaiming. The way those things grow here, there is only a year between a seed and a sapling you can transplant


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## riverrat (Jun 3, 2006)

I have read honey locust produced very little nectar. it gets its name from the color of the wood


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## talkingamoeba (Feb 15, 2008)

Thanks all. I checked Musser forest website and they are selling Black locust seedlings. I like them for fenceposts and a little honey would be grand as well. Thanks for the offer peggjam, I'll be in touch.


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## Hobie (Jun 1, 2006)

Just be careful where you plant them. I've got a ravine full of them, and my spring house has been crushed twice by black locusts blown over by wind (soft soil) or splitting out of a cluster.

But the honey is worth it!

Anybody available to help me cut some locust logs into posts?  Wishing I had a saw mill...


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

Make sure any locust you get is thornless. The honey locust around here have thorns you can drive through an oak plank.


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## twd8711 (Feb 2, 2008)

locust honey is one of the best, its hard to get a good crop every year it doesnt bloom long and the weather has to cooperate, it seems to bloom in abundance every 3 years or so, but when you get a good crop it will bring top dollar.


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## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

Ross said:


> Make sure any locust you get is thornless. The honey locust around here have thorns you can drive through an oak plank.


Made me laugh at your comment "thorns you can drive through an oak plank!"  The young black locust I have on my property have wicked thorns, but the older ones don't, from what I can tell. Last year was a great year for honey from them though!


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

Honey locust usually have the worst thorns around here.


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## Bizzybee (Jan 29, 2006)

I surely do hope there are folks cashing in on the locust up around Baltimore! It's insane, the number of those things up there!!!!!!

Locust honey and me go back to my childhood. Holds a place in my heart for sure! Yum!


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## Hobie (Jun 1, 2006)

Just remember: the locust honey is generally from black locust, not honey locust.

If you ever try to get rid of locust trees, heed this true story: I had one, rotten and full of ants. leaning toward the house. I had it cut down, then went on a 2 week vacation. When I got back, the entire yard was covered with hundreds of locust trees, literally about a foot tall, that had sprung up from the root system. I cut and pulled and dug and chopped, but the only way to get them to stop was to choose one in a reasonable location (farther from the house), and let it grow. Then, all the little sprouts stopped. It just wanted to live.


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

I've had them grow back from the stump too.


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## kc in wv (Feb 1, 2006)

peggjam said:


> I've had them grow back from the stump too.


Around here they cut the posts to length and set them for fence posts. One time I saw a green branch and leaves shoot out from a newly set post. It didn't live but a few weeks but it tried.


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## Billy Y. (Feb 1, 2005)

*The name is misleading*

Honey locust trees produce no nectar or pollen.

Black locust is what you want. Not very reliable production wise but they are beutiful when they bloom with those hanging, chandilear type blossums.

Make good firewood too if one happens to blow down.


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

kc in wv said:


> Around here they cut the posts to length and set them for fence posts. One time I saw a green branch and leaves shoot out from a newly set post. It didn't live but a few weeks but it tried.


Thats why the old timers skined the bark off of fence post so they didnt grow, thats the way they did it when I was a lottle shaver and that was a WHILE BACK


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## talkingamoeba (Feb 15, 2008)

The multi-use possibility is why I wanted to go with the black locust. I'm glad I asked here and didn't just buy the honey locust. I am always in need of good fence posts and have been buying locust posts so it's time to plant for my own use. That they will also produce good bee forage on occasion is a bonus. Thank you for the info.


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

kc in wv said:


> Around here they cut the posts to length and set them for fence posts. One time I saw a green branch and leaves shoot out from a newly set post. It didn't live but a few weeks but it tried.


I had a maple post do that, didn't last very long. Few weeks is all.


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## jjgbee (Oct 12, 2006)

*Off subject but what kind of locust is this?*

On subject. Bees do visit honey locust for pollen, not good nectar source. I know honey and black locust, but what is the name of the locust that has a huge curly seed pod. The pod is 8 in log and curly. The seeds are as large as a bean. Now flower like black locust and no thorns. Seeds germinate readily.


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## sentientsoil (Apr 20, 2008)

that tree sounds "like" a honey locust to me. the pod is right, although a little small compared to the wild honey locust around here. also, a cultivar of the tree is grown without the thorns. I love this tree.  shame it doesn't do so well for nectar.


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## KevinWI (Mar 18, 2018)

I have two Sunburst Honey Locusts in my yard...they are large...never gave them much thought as they were just ornamental when I bought the house....but this morning the trees were just humming with bees....I was floored....loaded with pollen...not sure if they are getting nectar, but wow.


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## Marcus Yoder (May 21, 2016)

The genus for honey locust is Gleditsia. The genus for black locust is Robinia. Robinia is the one you want. There are some hybrid Robinia that have different colored blooms.


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## KevinWI (Mar 18, 2018)

Marcus Yoder said:


> The genus for honey locust is Gleditsia. The genus for black locust is Robinia. Robinia is the one you want. There are some hybrid Robinia that have different colored blooms.


I know nothing about genus, and apparently neither do my bees...but they sure love "Gleditsla!


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## kc in wv (Feb 1, 2006)

Honey Locust Identification pictures
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HoneyLocustThorn.JPG
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_locust


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## spunky (Nov 14, 2006)

jjgbee:
That sounds like a captala bean tree to me ; my neighbors just quit blooming, my bees worked it for 1 week or so. I get black locust seedlings 2-3 foot from cold stream farms im MI . Flo lasted here only a week or soo because it is soo friggin dry


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