Growing Osage ???

[Jedimaster]

I don't have any osage growing on my place and have never seen any in the woods around my area.  Well, I found a couple of trees and the "apples" had just recently dropped so I came home with 12 or so today.  My question is: what do I do now?  

I read somewhere that the seeds need to be at a substantially cool temperature for a couple of months before planting but that's not likely to happen naturally in central Mississippi.  I could freeze them if necessary but not sure how to prep them for that process.  If it is necessary for them to germinate how do they occur naturally in warm climates?  Sorry I have so many questions but I don't know where to start.  Seems like it should be an easy process to be honest.  Any help?

[ishiwannabe]

I left mine out over the winter in a 5 gallon pail. Then I mashed em up, added water and poured them into some pots. I had about 60-70 seedlings, but never put em in the ground and they died.

Google hedge apple or osage and you will get plenty of instructions.

[non-typical]

I gather them and put them in a 5 gallon pail then fill it 1/2 or 2/3 with water and leave it for the winter. It will turn to gruel which I stir with a stick. I just carry the pail to where I want them planted then scrape a shallow trench and pour a few here and there. First time I did that I tried it in the garden so the seedlings got watered and fertilized just like our garden plants. At the end of the year I had seedlings that were 18-24" when the leaves fell off. Ended up transplanting those seedlings when we bought our farm and they are doing great.

[JAG]

I've done the above, too.  It works on the gulf coast.
Also, I've put them in a 30 gal. plastic drum, cut in half length wise, covered them with shaving and horse manure and left them all winter.  Watered them whenever I thought abot it.  Come sping the balls sprouted with "BUNCHES" of little seedlings.  I seperated these and set them out in pots, until they were 5 - 6 ins. tall.  Then transplanted them.  Mistake.  Keep them potted until they go dormint in the fall and then transplant them to where you want them.  Do it and your grandchildern and their neighbors will hate you!  Once they get established, they just go wild!  "course I don't care, 'cause they'll have all the bow wood they'll ever want, if they're of that bent.
Good luck, and have fun.
Some of my trees, I've pruned off the lower limbs each year, to try to make them grow tall and straight.  Hasn't been long enough to tell if that works, or not.
Johnny/JAG

[WINDTALKER]

3 times I put my in the freezer and then defrosted till they turned to mush,seperated by hand, placed in soil and ta da! grow your own bow wood. I've got a few growing normally in pots and few growing with 4" abs pipe over them. I'm hopeing that it forces them to grow tall and straight to reach the sun.

[Jedimaster]

Thanks for all the info!  I've got some places I can plant them so that they'll get plenty of sun.  With some judicious pruning I'm hoping to get a few nice looking trees some day.  Since I found out that there are so many seeds in one "apple" I guess I could plant a grove of 1,000 trees - but common sense is going to limit me to just a few.  Should be fun and will make an interesting addition to the lanscape.

[Eric Krewson]

I recommend potting your seedlings for a year and culling any that aren't straight. The crooked, dogleg ones show themselves within a year.

[non-typical]

If you choose to pot them for a year you might consider using Rootmaker pots. They work great for all kinds of seedlings.

 http://www.rootmaker.com/

[Roy Steele]

And old guy [bowyer] built selfbows for 50 years.I'm not sure what he did to get them to grow but I do know this his  were over 30 years old tall and straight.And he did this because hew planted his in between his apple tree's in orchard.They had to fight for sun light which made them grow tall and straight.

[ballen28115]

Assuming you watered and fertilized it, how long would it take to grow a tree that you could cut a single stave from?

[JAG]

LONG TIME!

[2fletch]

Probably about 7-8 years for a limb bow. (I have some between 8-10 years old and it averages about 2-3 inches at the base of the trunk.) Depends on soil and conditions but it would probably take 20 years minimum for a tree that is 8" in diamter.

Japanese arrow bamboo will take 3-5 years to start producing a large number of shafts. If your going to plant osage then you might want to plant JAB or rivercane as well. Tonkin Cane is heavier but takes longer to get established.