Honeylocust

Botanical name

Gleditsia triacanthos

Type

Deciduous shade tree; thornless varieties common in towns

Height

Usually 49 to 98 feet in the wild, maximum about 140 feet

Lifespan

About 125 years on average

Drought tolerance

Drought-resistant and somewhat salt-tolerant (USFS)

Hardiness

Zones 6b to 7b across the service area

Honeylocust was a popular street tree because it casts light shade and copes with heat and poor soil. Its small leaves also drop in fall, which helps with cleanup.

How do you identify honeylocust?

Leaves are divided into many small leaflets, giving a light, feathery look, and turn yellow in fall. Seed pods are long, flat and twisted, 8 to 16 inches, and hang on the tree into winter. Wild trees carry heavy branched thorns on the trunk and lower branches; the thornless forms planted in towns do not.

• Fine, feathery leaves that turn yellow
• Flat, twisted seed pods 8 to 16 inches long
• Thorns on wild trees; thornless on most street trees
• Light, filtered shade

Where does it grow here?

It is a planted tree in the valley towns: Reno (4,500 feet), Sparks (4,400 feet), Carson City (4,700 feet), Minden and Gardnerville (4,700 feet), in zones 6b to 7b. The Forest Service says thornless types are often planted on dry sites. It is less common above about 6,000 feet, where winters are longer and the lot trees are mostly conifers.

What goes wrong with it here?

The Forest Service says honeylocust has few serious pests: leaf feeders such as spider mites and the honeylocust plant bug, and a canker that is occasionally fatal. Dead branches in the upper crown, sunken patches of bark and ooze are reasons for an arborist to look. We identify the problem; we do not spray.

Snow and wind break weak unions, and honeylocust can also drop many pods and twigs. Large trees that have been headed back or topped develop crowded, weakly attached shoots; see why topping is not pruning. Wild thorny trees and thorn-bearing suckers are a hazard for hands and tires.

Pruning and removal

Dead wood and hazardous limbs can come off at any time. Otherwise, late winter, while the tree is dormant, is the usual window for deciduous trees. Good pruning thins the crown a little, removes deadwood and crossing branches and shortens long limbs. See tree trimming and pruning.

Removal is usual for a tree with extensive dead crown, a canker that has girdled a limb or trunk, decay at the base or a fresh crack. A certified arborist assesses the tree on a free estimate.

What does an arborist check on a honeylocust?

On a visit we look at the main unions where big limbs meet the trunk, the bark for sunken or oozing patches, the canopy for dead twigs and the base for lifted soil or fungus. We also look at what the tree is near: roof, wires, a driveway, a neighbor's fence. The answer on a honeylocust is often a light thinning and deadwood cleanup rather than removal, and we say so in the estimate.

Is honeylocust good firewood?

The Forest Service describes the wood as dense, hard and strong, and notes it is used for posts, pallets, furniture and firewood. For what we have available, call the office; we do not list species or terms on this site. See firewood and wood chips.