How to Transplant Locust Tree Suckers

The locust tree you're likely to have is either honey locust (Gleditsia triancanthos inermis) or black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia). Both honey locust and black locust trees grow vigorously -- so vigorously that when commenting on the black locust, Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center states: “Black locust is often considered an invasive species and a garden thug because it spreads very rapidly by root sprouts and by the copious seeds it produces.” You can use this aggressive nature to your advantage if you want to grow a locust tree. Locust trees propagate readily from root sprouts, or suckers, when severed and transplanted to fertile soil.

Long-handled garden fork
Compost
Small garden fork
Serrated utility knife (optional)
Bypass hand pruners
Chlorine bleach
Container
Rooting hormone powder containing indole-3-butyric acid
Wax paper or plate

Instructions

- 1
  Work the soil in a well-draining area open to full sun 8 to 12 inches deep just before the first hard freeze of fall, using a long-handled garden fork. Spread 2 inches of compost over the soil and work it into the soil 8 to 12 inches deep using the fork.
- 2
  Soak a clean, small garden fork, a serrated utility knife and bypass hand pruners in a container filled with 1 part chlorine bleach and 9 parts water for 30 minutes. Remove the tools, rinse them in running water and allow them to air dry.
- 3
  Loosen the soil around a small, but healthy, basal shoot emerging from the locust tree root, using the garden fork, as soon as the soil surface warms up enough to dig into in late winter or early spring. Scrape away the loosened soil with your fingers to expose the base of the sucker and the point it emerges from the root.
- 4
  Sever the sucker, along with its fibrous roots and a small portion of the main root it emerges from, with a serrated knife or hand pruners. Trim off any side stems, called stolons, that emerge from the sucker. Keep as much original soil on the sucker as possible to ease the shock of transplanting.
- 5
  Trim the tip of the sucker so the entire shoot measures 6 to 12 inches long using pruning shears. Trim off one-half of the long, leafy shoots where they emerge from the sucker.
- 6
  Dig a hole with a depth equal to one-half the length of the sucker and about twice as wide, using a small garden trowel.
- 7
  Pour 1 to 2 tablespoons of rooting hormone powder containing indole-3-butyric acid as the active ingredient on a piece of wax paper or a plate. Moisten the roots slightly with water and roll the sucker in the rooting hormone powder.
- 8
  Position the sucker in the hole and fill around it with the excavated soil. Firm the soil around the base of the sucker and water to a depth of 6 inches. Water the soil with 1 to 2 inches of water each week during the first growing season until the roots establish.

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