How much does it cost to remove a black locust?
Removing a black locust around Indianapolis typically runs $250 to $1,400, with most jobs near $550. This is a removal-first species and one of the few on this list that genuinely earns it. A mature black locust in a yard is usually hollow or getting there — locust borer larvae tunnel the trunk and open it to Phellinus robiniae heart rot, so the crown stays green while the stem quietly loses the section holding it up.
Mature size, and the bracket it puts you in
Usually 30 to 50 ft in a yard with an irregular open crown, fast-growing and short-lived, with borers and heart rot commonly ending it well ahead of the other hardwoods here. Size is the saving grace on cost — it is rarely a crane job — but a hollow stem changes the felling plan entirely, and the wood is rot-resistant enough that it is worth offering as fence posts or firewood.
Condition changes the price
Rated susceptible to ice damage, and once borers have tunneled the stem it breaks through the trunk and major limbs rather than shedding twigs, which is why its failures tend to be whole-section and unpredictable. It also holds its compound leaves late into fall, so an early wet November snow catches a black locust with far more surface area than the oaks around it.
Related
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