Aww... Beans

Stumper · Nov 18, 2003

I pruned a Honey Locust this afternoon (about 18"DBH). Thornless but definitely not beanless. the tree had been topped

several years ago and some (inadequate) crown restoration done since. I thinned things out and stripped a jillion bean pods off the "new" scaffold branches. The wind was shaking pods off the whole tree so when I got done I had a pick-up load of bean pods left after chipping the brush. I chipped the pods which reduced them greatly (but man what a dusty mess). Now I have a bed 1/4 full of beans! What do you suppose the germination rate would be if these chips aren't composted before spreading?

DirtHawg · Nov 18, 2003

Cant say for the Locust Beans.
But if they were like the Sugar Maple's in my yard this year. I would bet the germination rate would be about 98.7%..

It seemed that they would germinate as soon as they hit the ground from all of the rain we had.
I gathered up about 1000 three to five inch sprouts from the 5 trees and transplanted them on some fiends farms. I am hoping that at least 2/3 of them make it.

FBerkel · Nov 18, 2003

Good question, Stumper. You might do well to dump them out back of the shop. I delivered a load of ash chips full of seeds to one of my very best customers, and she had her gardener weeding seedlings for years afterward. Thousands of them. It's hard to come up with a better medium for germinating seeds than well irrigated wood chip mulch laid over soil.

Guy Meilleur · Nov 19, 2003

How much can you sell honeylocust for? Enough to justify the space, time and work of raising them to saleable size? I have willow oaks popping up all over my land but even though they're very saleable they're as common as dirt here, an epidemic waiting to happen, plus last December proved they are ruined by ice.

It's not hard to get seed of really special trees that aren't common in your area; if you want to raise trees best to start with a sp. you will be

about spreading around.