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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
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Plant · P-040
Black Locust
Robinia pseudoacacia
Black Locust is a fast-growing nitrogen-fixing tree whose wood is so rot-resistant that a fence post cut from it can stand in the ground for 30 to 50 years untreated. It fixes its own nitrogen, coppices and resprouts vigorously, and its timber is the standard alternative wherever pressure-treated lumber is banned. The surprise for anyone who plants one: it spreads by root suckers into dense, thorny thickets that come up through pavement, and a few states list it as a noxious or regulated weed, so growers usually keep it in check with a grazed or mowed margin rather than let it run. Its flowers are heavily worked by honeybees and yield a honey that commands a premium price.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 3–8
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Moderate · Moist · Well-Drained
Vertical layer
Sub-Canopy- Soil pH
- 3.2–8.2
- Plant type
- Deciduous Tree
- Mature height
- 30–50 ft
- Mature spread
- 20–35 ft
- Plant spacing
- 5.2–7 ft
- Root type
- Fibrous-shallow
- Spread pattern
- Both
Keep exploring
Similar plants
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Castanea pumila
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Allegheny Serviceberry
Amelanchier laevis
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Ashe Juniper
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Banana Plantain
Musa balbisiana
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Bay Laurel
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Carolina Buckthorn
Frangula caroliniana
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The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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