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black locust VS southern pine cca which is better

C

c.w n.y

Member


Im bulding a 4 ft high woven wire fence for cow pasture, i can get 8 ft black locust for $10 a post or southern pine cca for $8.75 a post. I have some cca boards taht are 15 years old and preety rotten, so it makes me wonder about it. What would you guys use. any cons aginst the black locust.


C.W
 
Go with the locust. They will last two lifetimes. Hunt some 6.5 foot ones. That is as long as you need. Where are you located?
Richard
 
I've had many black locust, white cedar, and white oak posts rot out in 10 years - usually just at ground level. Many variables, I guess. Soil conditions, temps, acidity, moisture, etc.

When it comes to treated southern yellow pine, it's more predictable. A properly treated post can easily last 50 years. A poorly - or lightly treated post can rot out in 5 years. They come in many different levels of treatment.

Power company just redid their transmission lines and poles here.

I'm surprised you can even find any place selling CCA posts to consumers anymore. Most are selling ACQ or equivalent with very light treatment and not meant for any use below ground. Even the pressure-treated 6"X 6" posts Home Depot sells are "about ground" or "at ground" use only.

By the way, back when we Central Tractor was in business here (before TSC), I bought a truck-load of their CCA treated SYP posts. 5 and 6 footers. That was about 15 years ago. None have shown any signs of rot, but I have no idea what level of treatement they had.
 
Just curious..Why not T posts? Should be half the price and a tenth of the work.... As for your question, locust.

Dave
 
hi richard G.

im located on long island new york, the fella selling them says he only does 8 foot lenghts. otherwise i would get shorter ones.
 
i"d go for the locust. howevermake absolutely sure they are dried out(cured); not the least green. cured ones will last mant years; green ones i"ve seen rotted off at top of ground in two or three years.
 
jdemaris

The kencove fence catalog says they are " cca treated southern yellow pine posts"
is cca generly better then acq. is their any kind of code or label on a post that would describe the level of treatment. or is it just caveat emptor.
 
Generally speaking, CCA was/is much better then later ACQ and other treatments. That because it costs less to use, so they don't have to skimp on the chemicals. The new stuff has chemicals that cost almost twice as much, so they really cut down on the treatment level unless you special order your lumber. Treated wood for pole-barn poles or house wood-foundations is considerably more expensive the standard treated wood sitting in most lumberyards and stores like Lowes and Home Depot. Same goes for the new treated SYP electric poles now being used by power companies (no more creosote treated).

The posts you mention sound like the same sort I got at Central Tractor 15 years ago. No rot in any of them. Nice to work with too, except you have to take your chainsaw out and put a point on them.

I've seen some locust last a long time and some not. When you get down to it, Locust has a natural chemical in it that kills bugs/bacteria - similar to pressure-treated wood. White oak and white cedar also have that natural toxin that keeps it from rotting. I'm going to assume that the level of natural toxin in locust can vary from tree to tree, region to region, soil conditions, etc., just like most anything else. One thing about locust though -it's harder and denser then young southern yellow pine.
 
locust is tricky. Some I've put in 15 yrs ago are still there & look good, others rotted off at ground level in 2-3 yrs. Very difficult to grow good locust now with widespread fungus, scale, leaf miners & other decaying agents swirling in the air everywhere. Any locust grown in an old stripmine will not last; soil is so poor tree cannot resist rot. I grew up leaning on 75 yr. old locust posts but the old-timers swore by "black" locust & swore at "yellow" locust, even tho its the same tree.
 
Just wondering if the locust post that rot off fast are the honey locust? I think yellow locust is another name for honey locust? I put some black locust in a couple years ago but don't have any long term record with them yet.
 
In my area of New York, the only honey locusts around that I've seen were planted and not native. Easy to tell since most varieties of honey locust have no thorns. We have black locust all over, mainly because they will grow in almost any soil. I ususally don't use black locust simply because of all the big thorns. Note that there are over 20 different types of black locust (cultivars) around the country.

Black locust's rot resistance varies depending on what time of year it is cut. It has more natural toxins that protect it when growing buds.

Believe it or not, our Federal government did a fence-post rot study in 1975, with just about every tree known to grow in the USA. Lots of info there.

In my area of New York, "ironwood" is usually the #2 choice for fenceposts. Sometimes called hornbean (or something like that). Grows all over and no thorns. White oak, cedar, and tamarack is also commonly used in areas where it's available. Very little here.
 
I used locust posts on my grape arbors. They've been in use over 40 years and are still standing.
Hal
 
Around here the honey locust have the thorns all the way up the trunk, mature black locust most often on the branches.
 


ya grumman used to be a big employer around here. thats about all their here was grumman and farming.

C.W
 
Honey Locust comes in thornless and thorned.

Black locusts around here are heavily thorned when young, but lose most when they get big. But, there are over 20 types of black locust in the USA.
 
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