Is a black locust a good tree to plant in Indiana?
Think hard about it — black locust is on the hazard list in central Indiana. Native to a limited part of southern Indiana and naturalized statewide, so in central Indiana it behaves as a spreader on roadsides, disturbed ground, old pastures, and neglected lot edges. Get this right in writing: black locust is NOT on Indiana's Terrestrial Plant Rule list of 44 prohibited species, even though several neighboring states list it as invasive — here it is a management problem, not a legal one.
What you'd be signing up to clean up
Small twigs and short leafy branchlets shed constantly, and the leaflet drop arrives late — this is one of the last trees to go bare in central Indiana, which throws off fall cleanup scheduling. It also drops fragrant white flower clusters in late May that go slimy on walks, followed by flat pods about 3 inches long that hang on and rattle down through winter.
Where to keep it away from
Root suckering is why black locust removals fail and generate callbacks. It spreads vegetatively by root runners and sprouts aggressively after being cut or damaged, so grinding the stump alone leaves a connected root system throwing suckers across the lawn for years — budget for a cut-stump herbicide treatment and a follow-up season of sucker control.
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