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Deer trees

I was thinking about doing that to have a more deer friendly yard. Deer and horses for that matter love those fruits. Some call them horse apples. I plan on making my front yard (2 acres) full of apple trees, osage orange, locust and oak trees. Sawtooth oak produces acorns at the youngest age - someone correct me on that if I am wrong.

 

Osage Orange trees are related to the Mulberry and are pretty easy to get growing You can do what you say, but the quickest and surest way is to bust open one of the "hedgeballs" and take out the seeds. It is sticky and messy, but then you can take thes seeds, which you will see easily, and start seedlings to plant. Get them growing in a pot and transfer to the ground and they will take off. There are male and female trees, with the females bearing the fruit, so you may want to start several and plant them around each other if you are wanting them to bear.

Squirrels love the seeds by the way, and when the balls ripen in late fall, they shred them to pieces in a pile at the base of the tree.

 

What is the age of the trees before you know their gender and/or they bear fruit?

 

Not sure. I have a book that I take bowhuting with me to try to identify plants around me to pass the time. It is called Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines in Kansas by H.A. Stephens. It has a section on the Osage Orange but no info. on how old the tree needs to be to bear. Here is a person who used the method of the "old timers" that came to build shelter belts our of them: http://www.hedgeapple.com/seeds/

This link here says they take 3 years or more to become "established". That may be when they start to bear fruit: http://www.texaslandscaper.com/resources/texas_plants/28.shtml


Hope you grow some like this!!:

 

I was thinking about doing that to have a more deer friendly yard. Deer and horses for that matter love those fruits. Some call them horse apples. I plan on making my front yard (2 acres) full of apple trees, osage orange, locust and oak trees. Sawtooth oak produces acorns at the youngest age - someone correct me on that if I am wrong.

Snood Slapper obviously knows more about this subject than I, but I have lived in Kansas almost my entire life and this State (particularly SE Kansas, is loaded with Hedge trees. I have never heard of a deer or a horse eating these things. They fall off the trees then lay there until they rot away. Just my $.02.

The wood is extremely hard and makes some of the hottest firewood you've ever been around :thumbs_up

 

Repels biting insects

 

Our hunting area is covered up with hedgeapples and I have yet to witness a deer eating them. I guess if there is no better food (acorns) then they might eat them. I personally wouldn't want a yard full of those squishy green balls, but they would make for a good privacy type tree.

 

I have seen deer eating them but only when there was nothing left. They are terrible trees to manage, thorny AF and they are hard as a sledge hammer.

We are normally trying to clear them out instead of trying to grow them.

 

I wondering why in the world anyone would want to plant ANY "hedge trees" (osage orange)??? These are FAR from a good looking tree and they will completely over run a property in no time. Many, many Illinois properties are just choked with "hedge" and locust trees and they really ugly up a place in a hurry. You know the saying, "be careful what you wish for....." ? Man, I have tons of Osage Orange trees I wish I could give ya! Unless you are making your own self bows or want fence posts that last 100 years.... I wouldn't want them at all! I'll have to snap some pics of some of the areas on my own property where these trees have all but taken over.

 

I agree, they’re ugly, quick to reproduce, hard to pull, and once they’re adults they’re hard to kill as well. I guess they do have some uses, but they’re abandoned pasture worthy, not yard material.

 

They were planted in the days of the settlers for several reasons. Primarily, especially here in KS, they made quick and good windbreaks, they were easy to grow, and as such they provided a ample supply of a hard, sturdy wood for fence posts. You can still see them used - some of which are very old. The wood also made pretty good furniture, tool handles and etc. They are also excellent for making beautiful and functional bows.

I grew up in SW KS and we had tons of shelter-belts (wind breaks) that were old, planted rows of the tree. I grew up hunting lots of pheasant (and back then quail) and rabbits in the belts. Rabbits love the fruits as well and was a benefit of having some around in that arid part of the state. I live in NE KS now and they seem to grow wild around here, not looking as though they were planted much on purpose, though I'm sure some were, since I've read they are native to a limited area centered on the Red River valley in southern Oklahoma and northern Texas.

 

There is a KS guy that goes by One Shot over on the Southern Outdoorsman forum who makes beautiful bows with Osage Orange. He either uses it buy itself, or incorporates in his bows some other way. Here are some links if you want to see his nice work...

http://www.thesouthernoutdoorsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20293&highlight=Osage

http://www.thesouthernoutdoorsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21029&highlight=Osage

http://www.thesouthernoutdoorsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21002&highlight=Osage


It really is beautiful wood when worked. I wish I had the time to make some funiture out of the stuff.

 

Trees

The Osage orange trees spattered in small amounts through out the timber add some very nice diversity and great wild life and song bird cover. I don’t really see it as a food source except for squirrels when all other resources are exhausted. The wood is extremely hard and weathers better than, Thomson’s water sealer. The trees were planted for natural fences before barb wire came along. After the invention of barb wire, the trees were harvested and used as posts to hang the barb wire on. You still to this day see fences in the Midwest with posts made from these trees. Posts will last 50 + years. The trees were also used to make bows that’s how the French came up with the name Bodarc, Bodock, or however you spell it. The trees will get big enough to hang a tree stand out of but probably not in your lifetime. I wouldn’t want an orchard of them but a few scattered here and there make for a nice change in scenery. If there was a tree to stay away from it would be the Honey Locust. I have yet to find anything positive about the tree except wild life will eat the bean pods it produces. If there is a tree in hell it will be the Honey Locust. :devil:

 

Stanley.. Just to let you know. And there is a town in southwest Oklahoma with that name.


Bois d'Arc

 

I heard that deer eat hedge apples, from a local guy at a horse stable. They go on trail rides and go right up on deer eating them. The horses eat them too so it is not uncommon to have a group of folks on horses right next to deer eating. If no one in the group speaks the deer wont spook.

My front yard is 2+ acres with no trees, it used to be a farm field. I am looking for a tree variety and dont want more than 1 of any species. I have about 20 trees on my list.

 

WOW! I I thought this thread would die, then I ttt it and I get tonnes of responses! Thanks guys, I have a 1 acre side yard that I want to tree. I'm gonna plant a few of these Osage trees and have another 35 trees coming. They are a mix of Honey Locust, Bass wood, Kentucky cofee tree and another one I can't remember. I have a pond on my property that the deer come to and I have clover and alfalfa planted in the sideyard. I want to tree it so I can attract deer and rabbits. I've got white cedar on the edges for a windbreak and privacy and a couple of apple trees. I should be in deer heaven in a few years, eh?

 

Kentucky Coffee tree and honey locust are on my short list too. Good luck with your plantings!

 

I HATE Osage Orange trees. They are messy, and ugly. The wood is so hard is ruins the chain on your saw and I have NEVER in my 67 years seens a deer eat hedgeapples.
I got a tree line of about 100 Osage Orange trees along the edge of my property. Anyone who wants to come and remove them you can have the wood and all the hedgeapples you want!
The only thing they are good for is making bows.

 

I used to have several of them at my old house. I never saw anything eat those blasted things EVER. You have to pick them up before you mow the grass. Man I hated those trees. I would really think about it before I planted one of those things. My black lab used to think she was in tennis ball heaven when the trees started dropping those balls, she would constantly go back and forth ferrying them from the trees to the back porch whenever anyone was sitting outside. :thumbs_do

 

Bois d'Arc

LOL. For years I heard ******** talk about "Bodoc" trees, and never realized they were mangling Bois d'Arc, or Wood of the Bow. I've never seen anything eat the fruits, which always sit under the tree stinking and rotting in our pasture. The cows sure don't eat them. It can be pretty funny to nail your hunting partner in the back of the head with a gooey horse apple, but they rarely find it as humorous as the thrower.

 

Funny how some want to cultivate what others want to obliterate.
That's why they make chocolate and vanilla.

 

The person to thank or blame depending on your perspective for the Osage Orange is Jonathan Baldwin Turner. He was a professor for several years at Illinois College in Jacksonville, IL, in the 1830-40 era. He had a nursery in town for the specific purpose of developing and selling the Osage Orange in KS for fencing.

He was also famous for doing the primary work that led to land grant universities (the Merrill Act) and is considered the father of the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

 

The person to thank or blame depending on your perspective for the Osage Orange is Jonathan Baldwin Turner. He was a professor for several years at Illinois College in Jacksonville, IL, in the 1830-40 era. He had a nursery in town for the specific purpose of developing and selling the Osage Orange in KS for fencing.

He was also famous for doing the primary work that led to land grant universities (the Merrill Act) and is considered the father of the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

Johnny "OsageOrangeSeed" huh??

 

This is a good post, I know it taught me a lot. There is a grove of these trees in my girlfriends developement. If you could take an aerial picture of the trees you would be able to see the lay out (fields, hedgrows, etc) of the 1800 farmstead.
The old farm has since been replaced by a developement but viewing these trees is kinda like looking at an archaelogical dig. They are a sign of times passed.
It was pretty funny to see the look on her yuppie neighbors face when his trees started taking 100-200lb seasonal dumps. Most people dont how big of a role these trees played in early american life. Very interesting IMO.

 

I also want to plant some Russian Olive. I've already caught flak from a couple guys telling me they are am aggressive non-native that will take over. Oh well. All the native ash and elm are toast, might as well do the import thing. Thanks for all the help guys! :thumbs_up

 

I also want to plant some Russian Olive. I've already caught flak from a couple guys telling me they are am aggressive non-native that will take over. Oh well. All the native ash and elm are toast, might as well do the import thing. Thanks for all the help guys! :thumbs_up

I sure hope you did not do this 19 years ago. Worst idea ever!!!

 

I also want to plant some Russian Olive. I've already caught flak from a couple guys telling me they are am aggressive non-native that will take over.

That stuff is just like the mentioned "hedge" they WILL take over and in the case of Russian Olive, many biologists warn against it. You'll be regretting that choice in only a few years.

I would also like to add that I have also NEVER seen deer eat the hedge apples.... ONLY squirrels will touch 'em and then scratter the seeds so you have more and more scattering of the species every season. :thumbs_do

 

Johnny "OsageOrangeSeed" huh??

That's great. Wish I had thought of that!