Is my black locust dying or just stressed?
The tell is the trunk, not the canopy: knotty swellings, oozing or sawdust at borer holes, dead and broken limbs scattered through an otherwise leafy crown, and hoof-shaped fungal conks on the stem. Black locust also leafs out notably late every spring, so a bare tree in mid-May is a poor reason to condemn it — the trunk evidence is what separates stressed from structurally finished.
Why black locust ends up on a quote here
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.
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