I my area, many were planted for use as fence posts and timbers for the area canals. Most of the Osage Oranges around me are almost more of a bush size rather than tree size.
My cousin fashion's long bows from them, Make a nice bow too. Stuff dried is harder than cheap steel.
After reading about how they grow from seed, I'm tempted to grab one of the fruits and try my hand at growing a couple. Just for the fun of it.
Get a 5 gallon bucket and fill it about half full of hedge apples and smash them into pulp adding water as needed to get them smashed. Once they are reduced to pulp, fill the bucket nearly full of water, stir and pour into a long trench about 4" deep. Cover with soil add a bit of fertilizer on top and by the end of summer you gonna wish you didn'd do it!
The Trees That Miss The Mammoths Ha! Neither of those articles give credit where credit is due - in prehistoric times Mammoths, Mastodons and Giant Sloths ate the Osage Orange seeds and dispersed their seeds far and wide in the America's. No surviving specie eats them. Check out this article in American Forests: The Trees That Miss The Mammoths - American Forests
LOL, that's why I said a couple, and even them I may plant on my neighbors property. Just kidding about my neighbor. I like the idea of doing something different, but now that I think about it, I hate dealing with all the walnuts that gravity puts on my yard, I would probably sprain ankles stepping on osage fruit.
If I remember right, Mastodons used to eat Locust seed pods also. I think the thorns kept the Mastodons at bay till the seeds matured and fell to the ground.
I always thought Ironwood (Osage Orange) was extremely slow growing, like an oak. I have a couple Kentucky Coffee Trees growing out back. Very interesting specimen tree.
This has to be an omen, while out scrounging for wood today, I found this on the side of the road. I feel obligated now, it's a gift!
Ironwood is in a different family altogether. Osage Orange is in the Moraceae family alongside mulberry. Osage seems to grow fast, judging by the tree rings.
Trees that grow at angles have interesting rings, the side that supports the weight has the thicker rings. That's a beautiful slice.
This slice traveled a long way from Iowa to get here to Connecticut, thanks to a fellow member here. I’ve got about 100 pounds of hedge now but can’t bring myself to burn all of it.
It’s pretty much non existent here so there’s definitely an allure to it for me. With a little luck I’ll be growing some here in a couple months We have plenty of black locust here though, which arguably is almost comparable (fast growing, rot resistant, dense)
Since Osage is pretty rare for me Ill be cheating and ordering some trees this spring to plant at our new property hopefully they grow quick.
