I have tens of thousands of Osage Orange tree balls in my woods. Anyone know of any use for the things? Don't say they keep away spiders-- the ground in my woods is carpeted with the balls and yet my woods are also a thicket of spider webs.
Osage Orange Balls
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Bird
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BXmark, I heard many years ago that your could cut them in half (or even smaller pieces) and put them under or behind furniture in your house and they'd work better than mothballs or insecticides for keeping a wide variety of insects out of the house. And I haven't the foggiest notion of whether there's any truth to that./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif
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TerryinMD
Veteran Member
It's kinda funny that you ask that. I"m a little skeptical.
There is a young boy with some enterpreneurial thoughts that is selling Osage Oranges at the farmers market. I believe he's getting .50 per orange. Well, a guy was asking him to back up the claim of keeping away spiders, etc. and the boy just kinda hemmed and hawed and stumbled around his claim. I couldn't help but by jumping in and adding some fuel to the fire by asking the young turk if he would back up his claim by helping clean out the insects if his "product" didn't live up to his claims. He began to studder and stammer and yammer away "that gee, I don't know about that....". But anyway, it was fun to see him try to turn a buck and live by his promises.
When I was a kid, all my friends would make forts out of old doors and whatever wood we could scrounge up and have battles using the Osage Oranges. Except, in Pittsburgh we called them monkey balls and the trees were called monkey ball trees. You couldn't image the damage one of oranges could do to a door. Lucky for us, none were ever hit by one of those oranges.
Terry
There is a young boy with some enterpreneurial thoughts that is selling Osage Oranges at the farmers market. I believe he's getting .50 per orange. Well, a guy was asking him to back up the claim of keeping away spiders, etc. and the boy just kinda hemmed and hawed and stumbled around his claim. I couldn't help but by jumping in and adding some fuel to the fire by asking the young turk if he would back up his claim by helping clean out the insects if his "product" didn't live up to his claims. He began to studder and stammer and yammer away "that gee, I don't know about that....". But anyway, it was fun to see him try to turn a buck and live by his promises.
When I was a kid, all my friends would make forts out of old doors and whatever wood we could scrounge up and have battles using the Osage Oranges. Except, in Pittsburgh we called them monkey balls and the trees were called monkey ball trees. You couldn't image the damage one of oranges could do to a door. Lucky for us, none were ever hit by one of those oranges.
Terry
ddl
Gold Member
Use for these balls, Squirrels and deer eat them. Saw the squirrels dig in the snow to get them. People with too much money buy them and put them in their basements to keep the Who knows what away. My Mother -in-law who lives in St. Cloud Minn told us that in the stores up there, they sell the balls for a dollar apiece. I bet if you go to a larger city on the east coast, you could get even more for them, tell them they are used to keep Republicans away!!!
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Dan L
Molerj
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Around here people use them for spiders too. I tried them & never noticed them to work.
Was just at my inlaws over the weekend & they have them in the corners of the garage &
basement. Recently we were at a family function & took a ride to my cousins property that
is covered with osage orange trees. I was calling the fruit monkey balls & my uncle said monkey
balls are the spiney balls off of the sycamore tree. Makes more sense, with the size & all,
but I said the osage orange monkey balls represented some big monkeys. I guess I'm not the
only one that call the osage monkey balls, but has anyone else heard of the sycamore tree
having monkey balls?
Was just at my inlaws over the weekend & they have them in the corners of the garage &
basement. Recently we were at a family function & took a ride to my cousins property that
is covered with osage orange trees. I was calling the fruit monkey balls & my uncle said monkey
balls are the spiney balls off of the sycamore tree. Makes more sense, with the size & all,
but I said the osage orange monkey balls represented some big monkeys. I guess I'm not the
only one that call the osage monkey balls, but has anyone else heard of the sycamore tree
having monkey balls?
glennmac
Veteran Member
Maclura pomifera is known as osage-orange, hedge-apple or bois d'arc. Professor Michael Dirr, the author of the bible on woody plants, does not attribute any insecticide qualities to the osage-orange. It is very tough, hardy and rot resistant. The rot resistance is attributed to 2,3,4,5 tetrahydroxystilbene in the wood, which is toxic to a number of fungi. The wood is used for fence posts, bows and furniture.
The fruits of the female trees are 4"-6" in diameter. For those of you who need a mental picture, Dirr describes the fruit as a "globose syncarp of drupes covered with a mamillate rind". That seems clear enough.
Platanus occidentalis is known as the Sycamore, American Planetree, Buttonwood, and Button-ball Tree. The fruit is only 4/5" to 1 1/3" in diameter, but isn't really spiny. The American Sweetgum ( Liquidamber styraciflua) does have a spiny round fruit about 1" to 1 1/2" in diameter.
The only nomenclatural monkey tree I know is the Araucaria araucana or Monkey Puzzle tree, which has long, spiral-cylindrical, skyward-arching evergreen leaves, and looks like nothing else in the world. I saw one on Anacortes Island in Washington this past June and was amazed by it.
The fruits of the female trees are 4"-6" in diameter. For those of you who need a mental picture, Dirr describes the fruit as a "globose syncarp of drupes covered with a mamillate rind". That seems clear enough.
Platanus occidentalis is known as the Sycamore, American Planetree, Buttonwood, and Button-ball Tree. The fruit is only 4/5" to 1 1/3" in diameter, but isn't really spiny. The American Sweetgum ( Liquidamber styraciflua) does have a spiny round fruit about 1" to 1 1/2" in diameter.
The only nomenclatural monkey tree I know is the Araucaria araucana or Monkey Puzzle tree, which has long, spiral-cylindrical, skyward-arching evergreen leaves, and looks like nothing else in the world. I saw one on Anacortes Island in Washington this past June and was amazed by it.
Bird
Rest in Peace
When I was a kid, people called them "horse apples" and my first horse was a very old, retired rodeo bucker (according to the folks who gave him to me), a big sorrel gelding, and he loved those things; ate 'em like candy. And I've never seen another critter that would eat one. I later had two young mares and they wouldn't touch them.
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TerryinMD
Veteran Member
I have an idea why you called them monkey balls. Looked at your profile and your probably not that far from Pittsburgh. Probably a regional thing.
Terry
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Most horses seem to love these things.
Larry
Larry
rdln
Veteran Member
I havent heard them referred to as "Indian Oranges" yet thats what we called
them maybe because it was a preferred wood for making longbows.
there is a lake west of Romeo that the main road weaves
around and it is lined with Osage trees. The oranges are squashed
on the road and can be slippery but not to the point it is dangerous.
them maybe because it was a preferred wood for making longbows.
there is a lake west of Romeo that the main road weaves
around and it is lined with Osage trees. The oranges are squashed
on the road and can be slippery but not to the point it is dangerous.
