We have 5 Hedge trees on our property. Only one of them has ever produced the "apples". In the 25 years we have been here, I don't ever remember that tree having more than 12 to 18 apples per year. For about 3 or 4 weeks I'd have to pick up 2 to 4 apples before I mowed. Not a big deal at all.

But something has changed this year. For the past 3 weeks, I have had to pick up 4 to 8 apples per day. All of a sudden Friday, I picked up 41. I didn't go out back Saturday, but today I ended up collecting 77 of the damn things.

What the heck is going on? Is this a precursor of something bad? Are we gonna get 18 feet of snow in Kansas this year, maybe a hurricane?

I don't have the answer. I do however remember going to get them to put in the basement when I lived in KS. Supposedly they kept bugs (specifically spiders) away. They were in the corners of all basement rooms. Lol...

The Farmer's Almanac suggests it is an indication of a severe winter coming. We had pretty heavy precipitation this year and have a lot of hedge apples and a lot of apple apples.

I did not know what they were. Thought they were like crab apples. I see from by browsing they are rather unique to a small area. Thanks for posting. My nemisis is the sweetgum balls. Here is a link for more on hedge apples and their use.
https://lancaster.unl.edu/envi...bline/hedgeapple.htm

Hedge apple / Osage Orange. My mom told us to put them in the corners of the basement to keep the spiders away. hell they built webs on them. We have had a tree here for as long as we have lived here. Some years the tree produces a lot some years not so many. I heard a long time ago that farmers would plant them in the fencerows so they could grow into a natural hedge/fence.

My Mom has a hedge apple tree on her farm. It has always produced a ton of hedge apples. Out of all the horses we've had over the years, only my horse, loved to eat them. We asked the vet & he said they were not poisonous to horses so we let her be. We have heard they keep bugs away as well, but have no real proof of it. We never noticed any correlation with the weather. Her tress always produces a lot of them. Property is in Indiana.

quote:

Originally posted by phil in indy:
I heard a long time ago that farmers would plant them in the fencerows so they could grow into a natural hedge/fence.

There was a row of Hedge trees across the back of my property when we moved in. Over the years I have cleaned almost all of them out. They are not pretty trees, and they’re always dropping sticks. If you mess with them they will grow thorns that are really sharp, tough as nails, and can easily puncture a riding mower tire.

They are one tough tree though. I don’t know what you’d have to do to kill one. I found some hedge fence posts, out back, that I know are older than the house, and it’s 50. I had to work to dig them up.

The bug killing or repelling theory had been disproved.
I have been know to use them for target practice. Never found any other use for them myself.
I don't even bother picking them up anymore as they make a very satisfying THUNK when my big ole zero turn mower hits them!

Try cutting a hedge apple post or tree with a chain saw and let us know how it went. Also I would not recommend burning it in a stove or fire place.

quote:

Originally posted by midwest guy:
Try cutting a hedge apple post or tree with a chain saw and let us know how it went. Also I would not recommend burning it in a stove or fire place.

Carbide chains help a lot. Even at $70.00 they’re worth it.

Uncle paul was a farmer,
he had 19 osage orange trees in a fence line.

I heard him tell another farmer that if they wanted them cut down , "they " could hire a D-9 caterpillar and take'em out.

that was in "67", they are still there

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable,

quote:

Originally posted by midwest guy:
Try cutting a hedge apple post or tree with a chain saw and let us know how it went. Also I would not recommend burning it in a stove or fire place.

It cuts pretty good green, seasoned not so much. Plenty of people do burn it in stoves, me included. It sparks bad and I too wouldn’t recommend it in a fire place but if know your stove and are careful not to over fire, I don’t think you can find a better fireweed... burns extremely hot and for a long time.

quote:

Originally posted by midwest guy:
Try cutting a hedge apple post or tree with a chain saw and let us know how it went. Also I would not recommend burning it in a stove or fire place.

You don't have to tell me! I've done both.

I even turned a set of table legs out of it for a friend on my homemade wood lathe.

IIRC it scores roughly double on the wood hardness scale than hickory.

Osage is very popular wood for bows and knife scales due to its high strength; eBay has a ton of blanks of all sizes. It is also one of the highest BTU hardwoods you will find in the US. I wish I could find a grove locally that was in need of removing prior to bulldozing (the same way Apple trees are recycled).

It is some hot burning wood. Too bad it pops and snaps so much.

By the way, I've picked up another 65 Hedge apples in the last couple days. Hope it ends soon.

There are a couple of trees I have seen in the town where I live and the ground around them is covered this year.

We always called them monkey ball trees here in Western Pennsylvania.

I've actually seen a few of them in the Dallas area, but don't remember just where.

flashguy