Black locust is a fast-growing, tough, nitrogen-fixing tree that can grow up to 10′ or more per year. It has large, sharp thorns on its trunk and branches. It has a running, fibrous root system, and will form groves by sending up new trunks from spreading roots. Black locust flowers are edible and smell INCREDIBLE, and they taste like sweet peas. They are an incredible bee forage while they are blooming. The wood is very dense and makes for excellent, high-BTU firewood. It can be propagated easily from root cuttings and from seed. Very aggressive grower. The foliage is often preferred by livestock, and the seeds are eaten by poultry. The wood makes an excellent building material and is known for its nearly unparalleled rot-resistance. A prolific source of biomass, this tree can be coppiced or pollarded and will provide a regenerative source of small-diameter fuel wood (perfect for rocket stoves) and can be managed on a 3+ year rotation depending on the desired size of wood poles. Excellent erosion control for critical and highly-disturbed areas due to its ease of establishment, rapid early growth and spread and soil building abilities.

• Seed needs hot water scarification – bring water to boil, remove from heat, pour over seeds in mason jar, cover and let sit 24 – 48+ hours, then sow seeds that have imbibed (swelled). Repeat hot water scarification on seeds that did not imbibe.
• Cuttings from roots, softwood and hardwood can also be propagated using a mist bed, though seed is more reliable, faster and cheaper in my opinion.

Excellent soil binder with a large, fine, fibrous root net that locks down fine soils – excellent for river and stream bank stabilization. Willows in general sucker very vigorously in response to animal browsing or cutting, and this can be leveraged to generate a self-renewing annual supply of fresh green material in a when managed under a coppice, pollard or browse-block rotation.

• Very easy to propagate from cuttings, generally taken in early spring / later winter before bud break. Cuttings can be rooted when left sitting in a bucket of water, then planted out in beds, live-staked, or grown out in air pots or conventional pots.

There are thousands of different mulberry cultivars around the world. Varieties worth researching depending on your climate and specific application include: White Mulberry ( Morus alba – a.k.a. Russian Mulberry – very widely planted in the U.S., often used as a windbreak or shade tree, fruit is sweet but bland, leaves are primary feedstock for silkworms in sericulture), Black Mulberry (Morus nigra – stronger, richer flavored berry than M. alba, a choice fruit), Pakistani Mulberry (Morus macroura -choice fruits are long and slender, very drought hardy once established), Illinois Everbearing (Morus rubra x alba – choice fruit, matures to ~35′ tall, cross between white and red), Red Mulberry (Morus rubra – native/naturalized to the eastern and midwestern U.S.).

• Can be propagated from cuttings. Should be rooted in moist media or in water immediately, then grown out in beds or pots until ready for final planting. Can be started from seed as well – cold stratification is usually required.

Hybrid poplars grow FAST, which makes them an excellent choice for visual screens, windbreaks and hillside or sand dune stabilization, fodder blocks and fuelwood plots. Makes shade quickly, however branches are prone to breakage, therefore location should be chosen carefully (away from structures, frequently inhabitated areas). Excellent as a fast growing windbreak that will nurse longer term species. The bark, twigs and leaves are eaten by rodents, rabbits, deer, beavers and porcupines, and the leaves provide forage for browsing wildlife such as white-tailed and mule deer while still reachable to them. As an energy source the hybrid poplar was found to be North Americas most productive tree at nearly 60 million BTUs per acre per year, vs. only 38 million for oak. Hybrids produce about 8,600 BTUs/lb., slightly more than most of the common firewood.

• Easy to propagate from dormant hardwood cuttings.

River birch sap can be fermented to make birch beer or vinegar, and is very mineral rich. Birch has a long history of medicinal use throughout the world.

• Simple to propagate from seed. Cold stratification required. See notes related to propagating specific birch varieties from seed at Sheffield’s Seeds.

Honeylocust is an ideal livestock fodder tree for incorporating into silvopastures. Let us count the ways…

• It leafs out late, allow early season light to reach grass forages growing underneath. This means it provides shade when needed most – when its hot out and the sun is high!
• The shade is a light, dappled shade – this means that grasses and forbs growing underneath the honeylocust will not be shaded out! Honeylocust shade is perfect for helping cool-season grasses persist and remain palatable later into the warm season, and similarly for warm-season forages at the end of summer.
• Fast-growing tree – can provide valuable shade in otherwise shade-less paddocks within a few years.
• Even the thorny types have their advantages – cows won’t rub on them! So they’ll grow all on their own even when exposed to livestock. Thorny varieties can be top-grafted once they’ve grown up beyond browse height with choice varieties like Calhoun, Hershey, Millwood and Ashworth.
• Honeylocust is a nitrogen-fixer – this means it helps to build soils and provides additional growth energy for forages within its root zone! Grasses thrive underneath honeylocust!
• The leaves are small and fall through the grass underneath, allowing them to be broken down by soil biota quickly without smother the grass.
• The pods are sugar-rich – an excellent source of concentrated carbohydrate, especially if using named variety like Calhoun, Hershey, Millwood and Ashworth. The pods also stay on the tree very late into the season – often times through the winter – providing an excellent energy source for finishing animals and maintaining weight through the winter.
• The leaves are also palatable and nutritious, and browsing livestock will maintain a low shade curtain of branches as they browse whatever they can reach.

Honeylocust is a fast growing deciduous flowering tree which is very tolerant of alkaline soils, salty soils and urban conditions. Honeylocust is in the legume family and its seeds are borne in pods. These are dark purplish brown, flat and corkscrew twisted, 10 to 18 inches long and about 1 inch wide. The pods frequently persist on the tree after leaf fall into early winter. The seeds resemble oval bean seeds and are surrounded within the pods by a sweet and juicy pulp. Honeylocust makes a good landscape tree because of its toughness, fast growth rate, pleasing form and appearance. They are often used as an ornamental tree near parks, sidewalks, and parking lots. The small fern like leaves cast a pleasing light shade, which permits grass to grow right up to the trunk. They are a good tree for use where you want to see beyond and through the canopy. Their salt tolerance makes them ideal street trees for cities that use de-icing salts. Owing to its drought tolerance and wind resistance, the typical species is much used for shelterbelt planting on the American Great Plains. The sweet smelling flowers are much favored by bees and the juicy pulp between the seeds within the pods is relished by cattle and wildlife. In fact the nutritious pods are a valuable stock food in some areas, and cattle are turned loose into the swamps when the Honeylocust pods are ripe. The wood is very hard, very heavy, and resistant to decay. It is used occasionally for furniture, fence posts and railroad ties, but its scarcity limits widespread use. Despite its name, Honeylocust is not a significant honey plant. The name derives from the sweet taste of the legume pulp, which was used for food by Native American people and can also be fermented to make beer.

Seeds, hot-water scarification or 24-48 hours of soaking required to get seeds to imbibe. If purchasing seeds they are likely to be clean and all thornless. Wild-harvested seeds are more of a gamble, but you can always graft on a thornless variety onto an established thorny rootstock. See Fruitwood Nursery for sourcing thornless scion wood. Honey Locust is dioecious, and male trees should be planted at ~ 1:10 ratio to females to ensure adequate pollination.

Their ability to grow well an degraded soils has made them popular for conservation and reclamation planting. They are valued for their ability to reclaim degraded soils, and as soil-improving nurse trees. Distribution of seed by fruit-eating birds is the most common method of dissemination. The genus makes good windbreaks. Elaeagnus angustifolia was introduced to the plain states of the western United States for this reason. Within North America, Elaeagnus has been one of the major genera provided by government agencies for sod conservation. The bright red fruits of E. umbellata attract numerous songbirds, and it is desirable for increasing wildlife habitat. Most of the species also make suitable shade for animals. The fruits of E. umbellata and E. multiflora are edible and have been used in ways similar to other small soft-fleshed fruits. Their flavor is pleasant yet tart. They are used for preparation of jams, jellies or even desserts. These foods are a favorite in Korea.

Nitrogen-fixing root nodules are common and numerous on all species of Elaeagnus growing in moist soils. On semiarid sites, modulation is limited in upper soil layers but nodules will likely form well below the soil surface where moisture is available on a continuous basis. Root nodules are formed by direct penetration of young roots by the actinomycete bacterium Frankia. Root hairs are not required for infection, a situation unlike most actinorhizal plants or many legume trees. Like other actinorhizal plants, they are pioneer species and prefer open sunlight. Root nodules are perennial and increase in size as the tree continues to grow. Young active nodules are snow-white in surface coloration, although older interior parts of nodules are light or dark brown and woody. Interplanted with Juglans nigra might contribute as much as 90 kg nitrogen per hectare per year.

• Propagates very easily from seed and root cuttings.

• Many ways to propagate ash: Seed – Stratification, Grafting, Layering, Suckers and Stooling. Seedlings do best with partial ~50% shade when young. Young seedlings do very well in a shaded, well-drained air-pruning bed.

• Propagates easily from seed. Seeds will require boiling water scarification and soaking to get them to imbibe. Separate out and sow the seeds that swell (imbibe) and repeat the treatment on those that do not. Often times just soaking in room-temperature water will do the trick as well.

Propagates readily from seed. Germination rates increase with a 24 hour soak in room temperature water, followed by cold stratification for ~ 90 days. Germination: sow seed 3/4″ deep, tamp the soil, mulch the seed bed. Persimmon also suckers vigorously from roots, and can be propagated from root suckers. D. virginiana is commonly used as a rootstock for more choice fruiting varietals, such as Fuyu or Hachiya. Some people report that livestock won’t eat the leaves of D. virginiana, so they can be planted out without protection – though I have yet to verify this. This is definitely NOT TRUE of select varieites like Fuyu and Hachiya that are grown for their fruit – the foliage is highly sought after by livestock.