I Was Warned Not to Plant This Tree. Here’s Why I Did Anyway (Purple Robe Locust)
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- čas přidán 4. 09. 2024
- Purple Robe Locust (Robinia sp) is a gorgeous nitrogen fixing tree. When I talked about planting it, I got lots of folks trying to talk me out of it - for good reason! This tree gets BIG quickly, and suckers wherever you damage the roots.
HOWEVER, when properly managed and understood, this tree has a place in an early permaculture garden. It’s a nitrogen fixer, improves soil, can be coppiced for chop n drop, shades young trees while they establish, produces hard rot-resistant wood, its edible flowers are excellent bumblebee food.
Geoff Lawton’s work in Jordan using fast-growing nitrogen fixing trees for coppice and fertility building: www.greeningth...
Ben Falk on Black Locusts: • Black Locust Blossom H...
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Jordanian Desert photo used out of the Creative Commons: commons.m.wiki...
I used to have a few really old black locust trees outside my window as a kid. It was beautiful, just the right amount of shade and the wildlife loved it. Sadly my grandmother (who lives out of state) convinced my dad to cut them all down. The ground is now nothing but sand. Those trees were keeping the whole area alive. I managed to save some of their seeds so I may bring them back one day soon!
I grow them in pots for the butterflies.
Great shade trees . Shade but get light for other plants . . Grandfathers farm has 3 or 4 big ones over yard . Maples over front porch . Nice breeze. No need for ac... heck we had one big maple. Once cut house always too hot . Also like privacy hedge combined with flowers . Great trees .
@@thealternative9580Que alivio! entonces si es una opción mejor tenerlo en una maceta para controlar su crecimiento? Gracias
I'm in Appalachia, and locust is my preferred firewood. Not only does it provide the most BTUs, the wood actually gets harder as it ages and dries out. There are fence posts here in this region that are two generations old. It also provides amazing food for bees, who make excellent honey from the blossoms.
I’m actually in the process of planting Black Locust where I have old cedar fence posts along my fence line with the idea that as the old posts rot I can use the tree as the new post while also getting all the added benefits of the tree itself. Suckers are just additional trees to dig up and replant around the food forest or just chop and drop.
Purple Robe locust is a hybrid between a tall tree with white flowers, Robinia psuedoacacia, and a shrubby species with purple flowers, R. hispida.
The house looks GREAT! We had one of those trees. Planted it for our 25 anniversary. Had trees popping up all over from reseeding. It had a “Y” in it like yours. Ended up splitting right down the middle, so out it came. Thought we were never going to get rid of it as they were sprouting up everywhere! Now I just have to contend with the neighbors Black Locust coming up here and there. We can handle it. We love our neighbors. Thank you for another informative video, Angela. 😃
I have a purple robina in my front yard. It somehow seeded and I now have 7 30+foot white flowered versions. They all provide a ton of shade. I have a pair of humming birds that live in the purple one and about 200 sparrows live in the others.
Congratulations on the new paint! And that blue is *stunning*!
I remember one of your mint videos! And am planning on planting some (here in dry central Oregon where I’ve actually killed it 🤣🤣🤣) mint around some fruit trees IN the ground! They will be little fruit trees. And I am pretty excited.
Thank you for the information on this tree! I have been thinking about putting a locust tree in the front yard for nitrogen purposes.
I have a wisteria on an arch in my frontyard. Whenever I tell somebody, they go: "but the grow like craaaaaaaaaaaaazy!!!" Like that is a bad thing :D It is happy to grow so much mulch and fertilizer for my garden on such a small footprint. Naturally I try to "Copy/paste" it now to grow up tree old clothes line poles. Wish me luck :D
I'm lucky - they're native here! All I had to do was pick seeds off the ground from the most thornless variety I came across :)
Would love to know what the seeds look like! I planted one 6 years ago and have never had any suckers come up. I would love to plant a couple more because I have a hard time finding trees that can survive the New Mexico desert.
Thanks for the Ben Falk link. Greg Judy, legendary in the regenerative agricultural scene sings the praises of honey locusts in his pastures.
Thanks for the video. Honey locust grow well in my area so I collected some seeds and I'm going to be sprouting them in the spring. The one thing to keep in mind is that sometimes when grown from seed you'll get the recessive thorned trait. Locust thorns can be deadly. They can pop tractor tires and go through shoes when they fall to the ground. If you or your pets get scratched by them those scratches can get infected. I have access to many seeds so I'm going to cull out the ones that have the thorned trait. That said, I agree that they're a great tree for nitrogen fixing and for shade--especially in areas with really hot summers.
Be aware that honey locusts are supposedly not nitrogen fixing like their black locust cousin.
Oh my 😮 I didn’t know the thorns were something to be concerned about.
I love the purple Robe locust its very beautiful its all over my neighborhood.
I have 3 black locust trees. They send out suckers. But this is exactly what I want. More free trees to cover my totally barren one acre.
Your house looks beautiful! I love the historic colors you chose. Also, I would love to see what this tree looks like after you've coppiced it. When you cut it down in the future, will you cut it down to ground level and leave the roots? Do you expect sprouting after that is done? Thank you!
Cut it down completely you will get dozens of sprouts, ie suckers. Clocking as alluded, not so many h
Your house looks super charming. Great job!!!! And congratulations 🎉🍾🎈🎊
Looks great! We are getting new siding and all our plant babies got trampled
Your house looks great!!
It’s almost ready to top off and use to grow grapes or kiwi
Great info. Thanks for sharing
Honey Locust is a good option too. I like it because people are scared to cut it down with its dinosaur thorns.
That is a gorgeous tree. I've planted three thornless locust at various locations over the years. You said you were coppicing this tree. What height do you do that it? How often? How will you get rid of it when you no longer want it?
Did you see Ben's video of him chowing on those blossoms? So funny!
Yeah! He was really enjoying them!
Have a Black locust growing 10 feet from our house for shade I'm just concerned about the root systems possibly damaging the house
i got bristly locust, "up to 8 ft" and pretty pink-purple flowers similar to those
I looked at that one but it wasn’t a good choice for my area bc it suckers profusely to form thickets here. It is lovely! I wish folks could select for a robinia that is under 12 ft but doesn’t sucker!
I thought about doing this because my neighbor has a mature black locust and its babies are always coming up in my yard anyway, but I'm afraid that I would get lazy and not be attentive enough to keep it under control. The young foliage is super spiny, very true! What about red alder? It's supposed to be fast growing and nitrogen fixing...? But maybe it wouldn't be great in an urban area. I am trying to grow a pacific madrone right now, but I continue to think about other options as they rarely make it...
I’m thinking of getting this tree. It is not a true black locust. It’s a hybrid of two or three different kinds of robinia. So if you planted it’s seeds, they won’t be just like the parent tree. They seem expensive too!
I have found these trees at Lowe’s. I got one last year (Summer 2023)for $50, it was about 5ft tall and had a good bunch of shady leaves on it. I purchased another one (Spring 2024) at Lowe’s for $109 and it is bigger, about 9ft tall with a good bunch of shady leaves. A nursery that I shop at would sell these trees at a higher price than Lowe’s.
Podré plantarlo en una maceta en mi jardín? Para controlar su crecimiento. Lo compré siendo muy ignorante. 😭 Mi jardín es pequeño
Hi, Angela, I would love to plant a few pf rhese trees on my 6 arces. Do you know where i can find seeds or young seedlings? Thank you!
I had a purple locust tree (Robinia pseudocacia 'Purple Robe') in the Portland, OR area that bloomed twice every year. I wondered why that was and upon reading the plant patent there was mention of that happening if the tree was fertilized after it bloomed in the late Spring. My water was naturally high in phosphorus and we got 45 inches of rainfall/year so there was abundant nitrogen. That purple locust tree was getting fertilized naturally. Has anyone else had purple locust bloom twice a year for them?
Should I be adding nitrogen rich fertilizer for mine? It’s not very full or shady, which is what I had wanted 😔 I have never had any suckers or seen any seeds either. It is a purple robe variety.
@@femme_de_fatale Locust trees fix nitrogen. What this tree needs after it blooms in later spring is a slow-release fertilizer that is high in phosphorus since you want to encourage flowering. If you do that beneath the tree canopy it should bloom a second time in September for USDA Zone 8.
Hi Angela, how will you approach taking this tree out it when you are ready to remove it? Will you just cut it down?or will you have to remove the stump?
I’ll dig out the stump. And then probably have to remove some suckers from root remnants for a while. It definitely won’t be a low-effort removal.
@@ParkrosePermaculture I was wondering this also, thanks. Where did you source your purple robe locust? They’re super expensive where I’ve seen them.
@@ParkrosePermaculturewhy not plant a native nitrogen fixing tree that doesn’t get so large…so you don’t have to cut it down? And kill this beautiful tree? Makes no sense at all. How very, very sad. Shameful
What about the seedlings they put out?
Such a beautiful productive tree!!! Can I kindly ask for some seed?
I cut it down this autumn so unfortunately I don’t have any seeds!
@@ParkrosePermaculture Would you please share why you chose to cut the locust tree down? In the video from last year, you suggested that you planned to keep it for 5 years. Did you decide the tree was too much work or presented too many problems? Maybe do an update video?
These work on homesteads of 4 acres or more. Not a suburban lot.
Seems to be working for her.
I’m just curious how you’re going to cycle this purple robe locust out after a few years since cutting it down is just going to cause it to resprout for eternity isn’t it? Are you planning to treat the cut stump with herbicide to actually kill it?
I removed it over a year ago and dug the roots out. No problems.
In the beginning when you’re under the tree, Is that a cherimoya tree to your right side? It looks like a cherimoya or a paw paw
I kept wondering where the heck the music was coming from. lol
If you want food for native pollinators, plant native species.
I’m a silver-level certified backyard wildlife habitat! My yard is FULL of natives. Native food is a must for native pollinators but they can thrive on and enjoy a diversity of food sources.
@@ParkrosePermaculture It would be cool if you’d do a few videos on natives: How you got certified, what natives you have growing, r whatever. I’ve learned so much from you! You’re great!
Hi Angela, your house looks beautiful congrats!
Are you concerned about any paint residue left by the painting process? We had our fence painted and it was done by sprayer. The painters left a mess, lots of plants were covered in paint and even some parts of the soil including the area where I grow veggies and I’m freaking out. Should I scrape the soil and discard it, or am I overreacting? Thanks!
We had special lead remediation done bc our old house had lead paint and they scraped. I found no paint drips or mess. The painters were super tidy.
I don’t grow leafy or root edibles within four feet of the house bc I am sure there is lead paint in the soil from the last 100 years.
Can they be cloned
Do the purple blossoms have the same fragrance as the white variety?
I personally cannot tell a difference
@@ParkrosePermaculture thanks for answering!
Those flowers remind me of Paulownia tomentosa.
That’s because they are both leguminous!
Hi,. How frequently do you need to water robinia? I live in moderate climate and summer tends to be quite hot with strong winds. I water it like once every two weeks, but all of the robinias leaves turned yellow and dropping it already. And it's still August. Thank you
I never watered mine. I found it dropped leaves earlier than other trees in my garden. It really turned once nights got cold enough.
I live in north texas and would love to grow some lilacs. Would you recommend a source for me?
I don’t know anybody in your part of the country. Is there a local garden club you could contact? Or ask your local garden center?
My neighbor is growing a line of locusts, we are not happy we removed 9 of them, the neighbors are starting the procedure all over again
Why these colours?
Angela, this is such a bad idea. There are so many other ways to get nitrogen. Shade in portland? Just a bad idea. This tree is a turd. You do not have to damage the roots to get them growing up in you kitchen. Angela please cut that pig out ASAP!!!
This tree was a great asset in my front yard. Shade is SUPER important in Portland - it's sunny and hot in the summers now and we go 3 months without a drop of rain.
I removed this tree a year ago, right on schedule. My pawpaws are now big enough to not need shade. Unfortunately, removing this tree left my front yard much sunnier than I would like and some of my blueberries got sun scald.
I would not recommend this tree for a small yard to anyone for the long term. My neighbor has a regular black locust and BOY oh boy was it a lot more tree than whoever planted it was planning on :)
Well it sounds like it served it's purpose. I'm curious about the remaining roots and if you were able to get them out