Thornless Hershey Honey Locust Seedlings (spring delivery)

Our seedlings are grown from seed from trees selected by John Hershey for high yields and low thorns and collected at his home farm in Downingtown, PA.

As seedlings, we cannot promise anything about the specific qualities of the trees. Some will be male, some female, while only females yield pods. Some percentage of currently thornless trees will likely develop thorns as they mature. In full disclosure, we have seen seemingly thornless honey locusts develop thorns as they grow older which is why we moved away from selling seedlings. But we feel these are valuable trees, given the parentage they come from. All seed was collected from thick, fleshy pods with sugar content above 30%.

All of the seedlings we’re offering have been grown out for a minimum of two years, and all trees with thorns have been culled. The likelihood of thorns is thus smaller than for first year trees, but not absent.

The ideal use of these seedling trees is in genetic selection. Many of these seedlings should be on par or even better than the parent trees they come from. Our ideal honey locust is completely thornless, female, and consistently yields good crops of high sugar pods. Some of these seedlings will fit that bill, and the best of the best can be selected for further propagation for use on other farms. Though we can’t require it, we ask that folks purchasing these seedlings be willing to be in communication with Trees For Graziers about what characteristics they see develop from the trees in the years ahead.

Height: 1-3′

Shipping: This product will ship out in March or early April as a bare root tree depending on your region.  If you want to plant earlier and your ground is not yet frozen by early December, consider a fall shipment. Any trees over 6′ will be headed back to just under 6’ for shipping since shipping boxes longer than 6’ becomes much more expensive. Trees picked up will not be topped but remain at full height.

*Restricted and not available for shipment to Arizona or California.

Local pickup: March 13, 2026 from 9am-5pm at TFG shop on 2363 Stumptown Rd, Lancaster, PA 17602