Osage Orange Apples...How and when to plant ?

[NoCams]

Found a osage orange tree dropping apples right beside the state hwy. Mason and I want to give back and plant them for future generations. Please let me know how, when, etc, etc to do that ?

Would also like to do the same with some persimmions as well. Thanks for the help gents !

[The Night Stalker]

I have heard several ways to plant them. Some people put them in a 5 gallon bucket with a little water over the winter. The repeated freezing and thawing breaks the seed pods up and in the spring, they make a slurry. Dig a trench and pour them in and cover about the depth you would plant corn. I have also heard of chopping the seed pods into pieces and planting the pieces. I think I read were there is about 100seeds per fruit. I think if you just keep them in a damp cold place they would break apart. I have about 25 -30 pods I was going to try to plant in the spring. When they come up, I think you are suppose to separate them and replant. In old times before barb wire, the farmers would intertwine the young trees to keep livestock in.

[Brianlocal3]

Pretty much dead on night stalker.  The 5 ga bucket Iis how we do it. Works like a charm

[NoCams]

Ya see, that is why I love the "Gang", here !

What about the persimmons fellers ?  

[Brianlocal3]

I have done the same with persimmons . But instead of pouring it in just plant 2-3 seeds per hole.  Now I could e wrong but I thought persimmons need a "mate" tree relatively close. We had eight on our property and they were in pairs.

[dougbutt]

Persimmons do need a mate close by,  we can by seedlings from the forestry department for seven dollars for twenty five plants i believe. You might try the TN forestry department and see if they have the same program

[NoCams]

If I pick up persimmons from different trees in different areas I will have "mates", correct ?

Good tip on the seedlings dougbutt, I got a connection with the TN forestry too so I will check on that....

[Bud B.]

My advice is to allow them to turn to mush in the bucket as stated and separate the seeds for planting. I tried the group sprout thing this year and lost alot due to root damage when trying to break them apart. The ones where I planted individual seeds did better and are much larger in their first year. One tree is already about two feet tall.

I need to do the perssimmon plantings. They will produce results before the osage trees will  

[TxAg]

We always called them horse apples as a kid.

Does anything eat them?  I see them everywhere but never notice anything eating the fruit/seed.

[NoCams]

We used to throw them at each other at the bus stop when I was in middle school.....    

Had no idea those were, "Baby Bows", way back then. The fence row where they were got dozed down to the dirt about 15 years ago and has new barb wire fence there now. This clean farming is killing us fellers. No quail and no osage...  

[RodL]

Do whitetails eat those? If so do they have to be on the ground for awhile before they will eat them?  

Rodney

[The Night Stalker]

We had them growing up in Delaware, we called them monkey balls. I recently went back home and loaded up the truck. I have not seen any in the mountains of North Carolina so I was going to try to grow some.

deer will eat them when they start to soften a little( you will be able to smell them from a distance) kinda sweet-n-sour.

[ArrowAtomik]

In the midwest where osage hedgerows are everywhere, slurry poured in trenches was the standard.

Beware as they can be considered invasive in the right environment.  They are capable of taking over some areas if left unchecked.  

When growing up in Nebraska I always liked watching the fox squirrels manage to maneuver up a tree with one of the giant apples in their mouth.

[goldflinger]

I knew an old timer who would take a bunch of the "horse apples" and throw them under his mobile home to discourage insects. Not sure if it worked, but he had hundreds of them under there.

[Tony Chinn]

Hey Goldfinger I read an article about cutting them into quarters, because the apples make great bug repellant said you could cut them open and rub on your clothes an stuff.

[Axis Thinner]

They definitely repel bugs, roaches and such. I built a hunting cabin in Mo for my Uncle and he put a trap door in the porch so he can throw "hedge balls" under the house. It works! Also seems to discourage pack rats.

[Yellow Dog]

The area I hunted in Iowa a few years back was loaded with them all along the fence rows. Some pretty tough melons for sure.

   

[statedriller]

And to think that I spend all year trying to kill the darn things...

An oak tree will give back a lot more than a hedge will any day....  Just a thought.