We saw a lot of trees full of these last month in the Arkansas Ozarks while on a trailriding vacation. I asked a local and he said he didn't know what they really were but that they just called them Ozark Apples. Though they don't appear to be edible, I know if they grew down here in Southern Louisiana that the Cajuns would find some way to cook and eat them. There were so many on some trees that the branches would break off. WHAT IS IT?
They are bois d'arc or osage orange, depending on where you are from. Also sometimes referred to as horse apples. I thought maybe that was because horses liked them, and when I was a kid, my first old horse did like them; would eat them like candy, but I never saw another horse that would touch them. Some people put them, either whole or cut, under and/or behind furniture as a bug and mouse repellant.
The wood is valued for fence posts; will not rot or at least will outlast any other wooden posts I know of.
This is the fruit of the Osage Orange, AKA hedge apple, AKA Bois d'arc French word pronounced bow-dark. The wood was and is prized for making bows (bow and arrow.) There are some pretty bad thorns on those trees and you need "slime" or equivalent to drive hnear where any branches may have fallen.
It is claimed that the fruit are insecticidal and some folks gather and place them for that purpose. I never used them for anything but to throw. When they impact the road a sticky white milky sap comes out. They make good BB ro pellet gun targets, rifle targets too if you pick them and put in a safe shooting location.
Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
Strange the way different regions have the same name for different item's.
I'm sure that " Horse Apples " referd to a readily available winter winter poduct that boys propelled around the streets with a hooked stick. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Thanks!!!!!!!! After asking people around this area about it for a month unsuccesfully, I knew I could find the answer on CBN. So, maybe, I shouldn't let Boudreaux make a gumbo with it?
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So, maybe, I shouldn't let Boudreaux make a gumbo with it?
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Oh no, I think you should let Boudreaux make a gumbo with it, and then tell us what it was like. I think that might be a first. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]
I use them to keep spiders at bay - it does seem to work. Chris
I've got dozens of them in my creek bottom. I knew they make the best firewood and good fenceposts but I don't know about the insectide thingy. I'm gonna surprise some fire ants this weekend.
Something I googled up:
"Hedge apples"contain a chemical (2,3,4,5-tetrahydroxystilbene) that has been proven to repel many bugs: cockroaches, crickets, spiders, fleas, box elder bugs and ants. Cut the fruit in half or crush it on the driveway with your car, then place it in a dish set in the pest problem area. One piece will last for a few weeks.
Planted close together (real close) they will make a living fence for cattle. Mash them up, add a little water to make a slurry, pour it along a fence row. In 3-5 years you wont have to worry about the fence. It will be self renewing. Used as windbreaks around here.
Re:Using the limbs as fence posts. My father showed me a hedge corner post he put in as a teenager....The outer bark is peeled off. The post itself is still near perfect. My dad will be 87 this month.
Adron
You can have it good, quick or cheap. Pick 2.
ebay.. buy it now! $4.95 a dozen
Do I smell a profitable venture here?!?
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