Is my black locust safe in a storm?
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.
What pruning can and can't prevent
Pruning is largely damage control here, and every cut has two consequences specific to this species: wounds are borer entry points, and cutting stimulates root suckering. Do not reduce or top a declining locust hoping to buy time — take the deadwood, and if the stem is compromised, take the tree, because a topped locust regrows brittle sprouts on a rotten trunk and becomes a worse hazard than it started as.
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