Was at the USPS in town a few days ago and noticed this tree on an adjoining property. I'm curious to know what kind of tree has "pea pods"on it?
Could be any of several members of the Legume family - Honey Locust,Black Locust,Kentucky Coffee Tree,Eastern Redbud.Several Mesquites also,though they're native to the SW US,parts of Mexico & Central/South America instead of northern US. Catalpa's also have the ''bean pods'' but I'll have to look to see if they're a Legume.Dont remember right now.
Not a catalpa-- they have huge leaves. Looks like a locust to me. I don't seem to recall the coffee tree having leaves that look like that.
Residential honey locust. The seeds inside the flat pods (8 - 10" pods) need to be scratched with a file before planting for best success. We have 4 big 17 year old HL's growing here because I grabbed some pods/seeds from HL's by the office where I used to work. Doing that to the seeds is called called stratified or scarified, can' t remember which.
Thanks for that info Gark. Headed in the opposite direction yesterday, so no bark pic. I may get over there today and grab a few pods and a pic.
one thing about that locust they develop runners and once they are established they are near impossible to get rid of , not a good "yard" tree as the branches develop nasty thorns. have a stand of them in the back of my property. couldnt get rid of them now if i wanted to. that said they grow fairly rapidly and when mature make big time heat though they are rough on the chain and can be the devil to split
Still haven't been back to that tree to get a closer look. I need to find something to mail and go back.
Leaves are to big to be Honey Locust. Looks like a Black Locust going from that trunk I see in the background
Yup, on second glance, I gotta agree. The leaves on our honeys are lot smaller and the seed pods are longer and more flat than in papa's picture.
That looks like BL to me. Most of the residential varieties have been hybridized and modified not to product thorns or pods and have very small leaves to make fall cleanup easy.
Let's see: 1) Send a chainsaw to be ported.... 2) Sell a chainsaw to buy another one... 3). Send a check priority express for a chainsaw 4) Develop A Case CAD... You'll find reasons to go to the post office. There's a few reason....
Black locust without a doubt. Send me the coordinates I'll come and get that junk out of your way.....you don't want that nasty stuff.......
Definitely BL. Honey Locust have smaller leaves, and the seed pods are huge. I hate Catalpa - had a huge one in my parent's yard as a kid, and it was always dropping something on the lawn.
I think we better swap names so we can start yours with locust......you're on that stuff like white on rice.
I have one in my orchard/nursery clearing that sprouted sometime after May, and it's currently 6 feet tall! My coworker donated some raspberries to me, and that's where it decided to grow. It definitely *was not there* when I planted those raspberries. I'm making that one a featured tree in my front yard. They get "stemmy" if you don't prune them properly, but I love, love, love the look of a nicely maintained mature one. They're also a "nitrogen fixing" plant, and my lawn could use a little fertilization.
