Black Locust Coppicing, Part 4

Disclaimer: Outside of its native range (in and around the Appalachian Mountain range in Eastern North America) Black Locust – Robinia Pseudoacacia – can become invasive. It is a pioneer species meant to recolonize disturbed ground and compete with grass. If you are outside of its native range please proceed with caution with this species, or consider using a species native to your area that fills the same niche.

Black Locust Coppicing – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, …, Part 5

It is now mid-July and the stumps have mostly become unintelligible thickets surrounded with poison ivy. The largest of the sprouts are fully 1 inch in diameter and 8 feet tall. The average sprout is around 0.5 inches in diameter and 5 to 6 feet tall. Most stumps have at least 4 sprouts, but because of the poison ivy I cannot get a detailed count on each individual stump, that count will come during the winter update. We had a historically dry spring in this area, but have gotten lucky recently with intermittent storms during the hottest days bringing us to about an average weekly rainfall for summer. This has not made up for the lack of rain in the spring, but at least is maintaining things on par with a normal hot summer.

The following pictures are indicative of what the stumps look like currently, including the last photo which shows the worst of the deer damage – leaving only one sprout about 5 feet tall on that stump. Even taking into account the deer damage, the results so far are about as good as I could have hoped. I have decided to only thin sprouts during the winter to allow the maximum amount of photosynthesis and therefore root growth during this first year, and I look forward to seeing how large these sprouts have gotten by that time!