What kind of tree is this?

[Torvy]

Interesting. We had to go to a local farmer's market a couple of weeks ago. I chatted with a woodworker selling some pieces made from this stuff. Last week, we drove to Lubbock and back. There's an area about an hour from here called Bois D'arc. I'm guessing that tree is common there, too. Now this week I come across this post. I had heard of Osage Orange and Hedge Apple, but not Bodark (though that's how it's pronounced here). I took a French course in college...hard for me to see it written and say it that way.

 

[MossRoad]

This is the tree we see very often in rows along farm fields around here, although not as often anymore. It was planted as a wind break for soil conservation. You can tell which way the prevailing wind is in that area by the direction the trees are permanently bent.

 

[ning]

For you hedgerow folks out there...

While difficult, you can pleach osage orange and make an almost impenetrable living fence.

For you hedgerow-for-the-generations folks out there...

While difficult and a lengthy process, you can pleach osage orange and make an almost impenetrable living fence. which will be almost impenetrable but not until you're long gone.

FTFY (edits in bold)

Still I love the idea

 

[NoTrespassing]

For you juvenile delinquents out there....

Hedge apples make great ammo.

For you neat freaks out there...

It's said that if you put a couple hedge apples in each corner and spaced along the walls of the inside of your basement sill, you'll never have bugs and spiders. (my guess is that if you're the type of person to do this, you're also the type of person that dusts and cleans along your basement sill on a regular basis, so therefore, you'll never have bugs and spiders)

For you hedgerow folks out there...

While difficult, you can pleach osage orange and make an almost impenetrable living fence.

That's the first time I've heard or read the word "pleach". Thanks for the vocabulary lesson. I might leave work early now.

 

[Runner]

After cutting and disposing of hundreds of these things, I'm finally down to 5 in the pasture that are trimmed up to look like decent trees. Too big to cut down completely, but the ones I have left don't produce hedge apples for whatever reason. They can make pretty shade trees if you keep up with the pruning.

They are SO hard to kill. Any stump left will have new sprouts coming out of it and 5' high in a few months, even if the stump is treated with Roundup. The stumps really all need to be ground out, but unfortunately, I can't get to some of them with my grinder.

Pro Tips: Hedge chips make good mulch, takes forever to decompose. Use cheapo HF welding gloves to handle those thorny branches while you are chucking them into the chipper or burn pile.

 

[ponytug]

After cutting and disposing of hundreds of these things, I'm finally down to 5 in the pasture that are trimmed up to look like decent trees. Too big to cut down completely, but the ones I have left don't produce hedge apples for whatever reason. They can make pretty shade trees if you keep up with the pruning.

They are SO hard to kill. Any stump left will have new sprouts coming out of it and 5' high in a few months, even if the stump is treated with Roundup. The stumps really all need to be ground out, but unfortunately, I can't get to some of them with my grinder.

Pro Tips: Hedge chips make good mulch, takes forever to decompose. Use cheapo HF welding gloves to handle those thorny branches while you are chucking them into the chipper or burn pile.

Osage orange trees come in male and female trees, so you are down to just males.

All the best, Peter