I would like to buy 100-200 Osage Orange seeds if anyone has them available.  Thanks, Todd

I saved some fruit from a neighbor's Osage Orange in the fall; if I can salvage some seeds from them I'll send you some for free.  No guarantees the seeds will sprout, of course - the tree may be the only one of its kind in the area so I have no idea if the seeds are viable.  PM me your address if you're interested. 

Hey, Todd

These things - magnificent trees - very hard wood - grow all over here (Franklin, TN).  The fruits appear, I think, in late Fall.  Although, maybe I can look under the trees for some old mushy ones.  Not sure what the seeds look like.  If I could put 'em in an envelope, I'd do it.  If I have to mail the glob, I'd want you to pay postage.  I'll look next time I'm in the park.  Maybe look online to see what the seeds look like.  I've smashed them before, and just see undifferentiated mush that kind of looks like a soft orange peel but nothing like a citrus (no fruit - no seeds (that I recognized)).  The "peel" looks like it goes all the way to the center.

Sylvester, the seeds are in the fruit looking thing.  One of the fruits has a lot of seeds in it.  Steven said he would try to send me some, but I would be happy to pay you for postage if you want to send a couple of the fruits.  Even if they are mush, I think you could put them in a ziplock and mail them.  Let me know if you can find some and want to do that.  Thanks.

Hey, Todd

I had a couple minutes, I looked pretty hard but for a short time, and I could only find one.  I'm curious where the hell they all went.  If they rotted just over the winter, it would appear they might've.  I'll look around some more.  I wanna try growing these now too, but I don't have enough space for 'em.  Even one really.  Not when I could be growing edible fruit.  Anyway, I'll look around.  Like I said, there are tons here.  I looked under about 3 trees very quickly and didn't see any.  But, they can't have all disappeared.  I'm super into the idea of people helping each other.  I watched a video of a guy mashing them up, after fermenting them (?), and pouring them with water into a trench and getting tons of seedlings.  He had on the order of 10 or 20.  Another video mentioned using these for a fence, I thought the video was going to say for paddocks for animals, and then they said in order to make a killing field in front of your house, with only one way in and out.  Wow.  Anyway, one hopes for better from his fellow man.  I like to see them as a loose border between properties or paralleling a road or path.  I'd like to live in one or use it for timber in construction or firewood, although, I can't believe they grow fast enough for the latter, though one guy I respect, says they do.  Anyway, I'll probably get back in touch.  Feel free to check in, if I get lost in space.

By the way, how would I ship this thing?  Can I stick a package in my mailbox, like I do an outgoing letter, for the postman?  How would I calculate postage?  I like the idea of not stopping at the post office.

Sylvester

Sylvester Fishburne wrote:I had a couple minutes, I looked pretty hard but for a short time, and I could only find one.  I'm curious where the hell they all went.  If they rotted just over the winter, it would appear they might've.  I'll look around some more.  I wanna try growing these now too, but I don't have enough space for 'em.  Even one really.  Not when I could be growing edible fruit.  Anyway, I'll look around.  Like I said, there are tons here.  I looked under about 3 trees very quickly and didn't see any.  But, they can't have all disappeared.

My guess would be the squirrels ate them.  Around here, any Osage Orange fruit I leave on the ground for more than about a week gets eaten completely by squirrels.

I'm sending Todd a few of mine - if you do send him some of yours, and both sets germinate, I'd be curious to see how the two different populations do in his environment - are the Tennessee OOs different from Massachusetts ones?

I too wish I had room to grow at least a few of them, but on an urban lot I have to prioritize food plants.

They don't grow this far North but they do sell the fruits in the grocery store to put in basements to keep spiders away I think is the idea (I've found them on sill plates when documenting old homes) - not sure why I would want that but ....? I've made cutting boards with the wood I get when I'm in Kansas. If you are looking for something with the same properties as Osage Orange possibly consider black locust - considered a trash/invasive tree here it is planted and harvested in Europe (a farmer I know lets me cut all I want out of their pasture). The tree with the big thorns - super high BTU, lasts much longer than treated lumber in the ground, hard as nails etc. and grows farther north. Osage Orange burns very hot careful in your stove also pops like crazy. Good luck.

I have seen seeds on Amazon, eBay, and saplings for sale.

The fruits are called "hedge apples" because the trees are used for wind breaks (hedges) - they are tearing them out for more land to plant - short sighted or what? Mulberry is not too far off for firewood and grows very fast. The wood is not very stable for building - moves around a lot - excellent for fence posts - we've found them where the barbed wire has rusted off but the posts are still there. The black locust grows pretty fast - watch out for the thorns not only are they sharp but have some sort of toxin that lasts for a while if you get poked.  OO also has thorns - short and hard. Best to cut when green - the wood is so hard it eats up chains - like Pin Oak.

Sylvester Fishburne wrote:

By the way, how would I ship this thing?  Can I stick a package in my mailbox, like I do an outgoing letter, for the postman?  How would I calculate postage?  I like the idea of not stopping at the post office.

Sylvester

I don't know how you can tell how much postage would be.  I guess if a person had a pretty accurate scale you could find out the weight and look it up, but I have never tried that.

I would much prefer a living fence, so I'm hoping to give it a try along a couple of borders.  I may try a few black locusts as well.

I live near a collage town where they have a big yearly festival called the 'Bois d'Arc Bash". If you don't know Bois d'Arc is yet another name for the 'horse apple' or 'osage orange'.
The Bash was started by the late, and in my opinion great, Dr. Fred Tarpley. He also wrote a book that will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about this tree. It used to be used to make living fences that were "horse high, bull strong and pig tight". Native Americans used the wood to make bows; thus the French name of 'Bois d'Arc'. The name of Dr. Tarpley's book is "Wood Eternal, the story of Osage Orange, Bois D'Ark, etc." I only hope that it might still be in print as, sadly, Dr. Tarpley passed away several years ago.
From personal experience I can tell you that it is called horse apple  because horses love to eat the fruits. The things grow wild here in N. E. Texas and there is an area near here that used to be it's original 'natural range' I believe. The wood also delivers a LOT of heat when burned. When I had a wood stove and it was cold I would use regular wood during the day and add a horse apple log about 6 to 8 inches in diameter and at least a foot long to the stove near bed time. It would take a while to catch but once it did it was not advisable to open the stoves door because of the sparks it would shoot out. However, it would burn slow and hot enough all night to keep the house warm and often still be burning the next day! (Of course I am a Texan so you can take all that with a grain of salt if you wish!) I also know from painful experience that these trees have thorns but usually only on the younger branches.
I would be willing to send you some of the fruits as I have no clue how to separate the seeds out but it is spring now and all those that fell last fall have been eaten by horses, squirrels and other critters.

Mark Clipsham wrote:The black locust grows pretty fast - watch out for the thorns not only are they sharp but have some sort of toxin that lasts for a while if you get poked.

It sounds like you might be thinking of honey locust, not black locust, whose thorns are not so bad.

We have a massive one of these at the entrance to our property. The fruit get broken up by the squirrels and they go for the seeds. I sent some of these—entire fruit—to a friend two years ago. This past year we had almost no fruit on either of our female trees. Cleaning the seeds from the fruit is a PAIN. A lot of people let the fruit rot in a bucket and then pour that slurry into a shallow trench. I tried to rot the fruit in a kiddie pool over winter and didn't have much luck here in Zone 7A Virginia.

Seed wise, Sheffield Seed Company sells seed and that's what we've got cold stratifying in the fridge right now. https://sheffields.com/seeds/Maclura/pomifera

My property was logged off before I got it and they left the Osage as undesirable so I have a bunch of it. The squirrels have gotten most of the oranges by now but I saw a couple the other day by the fence where my cat likes to hunt. If you haven't already gotten some let me know. If you can find a young branch that's straight enough and the right size it makes a nice walking stick. Sand the bark off down to the white sap wood and the sanded off thorns look like little brown poke-a-dots.

Tom I'd be happy to have some. Steven is sending me some but like he said in his post, it would be interesting to plant some from different areas. Pm me if I would be interested in working something out. Thank you.

Growing up in Osage County Kansas, I know all about these! ^_^ We always called them hedge apples.
I live in Oregon now, but my mom and pop have a bunch of trees in the backyard. This is not a great time of year to find the seeds though - squirrels or rot gets to them. If you want to keep in touch, I can try to get some to you this fall when they're fresh. Otherwise, I hear they are sold on Ebay as decoration.
My email is in my bio, shoot me a line and I'll put it on my calendar. I'll text mom and see if there are any good ones left, but I'm pretty sure not.

Actually, look at this! Only $3 Free Ship.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-osage-orange-tree-seeds/201830510564?_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D41670%26meid%3D1737709f4daa45658857b60429416ac2%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D380335078443

Thanks Amy, I just ordered 200 seeds from there as well.

I received the osage orange fruit you sent, Steven. Thanks! They're much smaller than I remember -- these are only an inch or two in diameter.

Steven, many thanks!  I got my hedge apples when I got home from work yesterday.  Can't wait for spring to try them.  Please send me a PM with your paypal account so I can send you funds for postage.  I really appreciate you taking time to do this.

Todd, Rebecca,

I'm glad you got them!  Yes, these ones were very small.  They were bigger the previous year, but I wonder if the brutal drought we had last summer made the fruit smaller. 

No need to send any payment, I just want to hear whether the seeds germinate and if so what you do with the seedlings.  I'll try germinating my remaining ones here and we can compare notes.

Thanks! I've paid you in Permies pie. Now you can go to "My profile" and look at the Pie-only Preferences. There are nice things there, like ways to tweak your view so you see more of the thread and less of the graphics. And you "Navigate to the last post you have viewed" so that when you click on a post it takes you to where you left off reading it before, rather than the beginning or end.

Steven Kovacs wrote:Todd, Rebecca,

I'm glad you got them!  Yes, these ones were very small.  They were bigger the previous year, but I wonder if the brutal drought we had last summer made the fruit smaller. 

No need to send any payment, I just want to hear whether the seeds germinate and if so what you do with the seedlings.  I'll try germinating my remaining ones here and we can compare notes.

Very generous of you, thanks.  I'll keep you up to date on their progress.