has anyone ever seen deer eating monkey balls, i never knew this but i have seen it with my own eyes, they were on the road and have been ran over by cars, on my way to where i hunt i have seen deer there before and after i hunt they are in the middle of the road eating these smashed monkey balls. never cut one open to really see whats inside..go figure
steelheadpie
yes they eat them, but usually not until after a good hard freeze softens them up. One of my best bowhunting spots is in the middle of a public gamelands, in a swamp, with 1 huge osage tree. That tree really draws them in, especially later in the season, after they're pressured in the fields and the acorns are gone.
We used to put the fruit in a jar and use it for brains on the dummys we made for halloween.We called the fruit from sycamore trees Monkey Balls,I geuss it depends on where you grew up.
While an undergraduate at the Munich Polytechnic Institute (High Form), I took a double-major and earned a B.S. degree in the disciplines of identification of trees and primates. It's the derivative of the Latin scientific name: (genus) Ballomous (family) Monkusomus i.e. Monkey Balls in English.
i know what they are really called but growing up in beaver county, you called them monkey balls! knew what the thread was about before i even opened it. LOL
Never heard them called that. They are hedge apples here.
Growing and Planting
Planting Hedge Trees - Old Timers told our friend Clark Knapp that they started Hedge Rows by dumping the Hedgeapples in a barrel, letting them sit over the winter allowing them to freeze and thaw until spring when they were soft. They then mashed them, added water and poured the slurry into a plowed furrow and cover about a inch or two. They kept the hedgeapples moist during the winter by drilling holes and letting about 2 inches of water stand in the bottom (if all the fruit is left submerged for extended length of time, they will not sprout). Mr Knapp is only 86 years old, and claims he is a few days away from being an Old Timer himself. I assume this method would be a good technique if one would want the hedge row to act as a fence. Mr. Knapp knows his business. Picture at right was taken on his farm. I tried this planting technique last spring and it works (over 300 seedlings in a 8 ft hedgerow). Complete description of Hedgeapple seed experiment.
Small Osage orange trees can also be snatched from pastures. Identifying the tree can be tricky, hedgeapple trees have leaves very similar to Mulberry trees. You definitely do not want a wild Mulberry tree attracting flies to your front yard.
Growing and Planting
Planting Hedge Trees - Old Timers told our friend Clark Knapp that they started Hedge Rows by dumping the Hedgeapples in a barrel, letting them sit over the winter allowing them to freeze and thaw until spring when they were soft. They then mashed them, added water and poured the slurry into a plowed furrow and cover about a inch or two. They kept the hedgeapples moist during the winter by drilling holes and letting about 2 inches of water stand in the bottom (if all the fruit is left submerged for extended length of time, they will not sprout). Mr Knapp is only 86 years old, and claims he is a few days away from being an Old Timer himself. I assume this method would be a good technique if one would want the hedge row to act as a fence. Mr. Knapp knows his business. Picture at right was taken on his farm. I tried this planting technique last spring and it works (over 300 seedlings in a 8 ft hedgerow). Complete description of Hedgeapple seed experiment.
Small Osage orange trees can also be snatched from pastures. Identifying the tree can be tricky, hedgeapple trees have leaves very similar to Mulberry trees. You definitely do not want a wild Mulberry tree attracting flies to your front yard.
Osage orange is an interesting tree, we always called them hedge apples where I grew up in southern York County. I fired my first shot with a shotgun at a hedge apple when I was 8 years old. My Dad handed me his 12 ga. Parker double, rolled one down a hill and said "shoot the rabbit". Almost ripped my arm off but more importantly I managed to put a few #6 shot in the "rabbit".
They are more of a southern species, never seen may where I live now in central Pa. much above Snyder County. An old York County farmer told me that the Union Civil War soldiers brought seeds back from the South and planted them for living cattle fences.
My father-in-law swore by using hedge apples for spider deterrent. Each fall he would place some in the rafters of his basement, not sure that it worked but I never saw any spiders in his house either. Beautiful wood, I seen a muzzleloader long rifle stock carved out of osage orange. I wouldn't want to have to carry it around, very heavy, but it sure was pretty.
I checked a book I have on how to grow different tree species from seed. It says the seeds exhibit a slight dormancy that can be overcome by stratification for 30 days at 41 degrees F (fridge) or soaking in water for 48 hours. No need to freeze.
They are more of a southern species, never seen may where I live now in central Pa. much above Snyder County. An old York County farmer told me that the Union Civil War soldiers brought seeds back from the South and planted them for living cattle fences.
My father-in-law swore by using hedge apples for spider deterrent. Each fall he would place some in the rafters of his basement, not sure that it worked but I never saw any spiders in his house either. Beautiful wood, I seen a muzzleloader long rifle stock carved out of osage orange. I wouldn't want to have to carry it around, very heavy, but it sure was pretty.
I checked a book I have on how to grow different tree species from seed. It says the seeds exhibit a slight dormancy that can be overcome by stratification for 30 days at 41 degrees F (fridge) or soaking in water for 48 hours. No need to freeze.
Man am I glad Im takin a dendro course right now! There are osage oranges here in PA, they do grow in the wild but they are few and far between! They do not have thorns, but my professor calles em Monkey Brains which actually makes sense considering the texture of the fruit!
Here is Osage Orange "Maclura pomifera"
![Image]()
Here is Osage Orange "Maclura pomifera"
Yes, monkey balls(brains) or the more common name Osage Orange is native to the Osage River valley...
Osage Orange has been spread through out North America because of there use as a living fence.
From Wikipedia: "The Osage-orange is commonly used as a tree row windbreak in prairie states, which gives it one of its colloquial names, "hedge apple". It was one of the primary trees used in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Great Plains Shelterbelt" WPA project, which was launched in 1934 as an ambitious plan to modify weather and prevent soil erosion in the Great Plains states, and by 1942 resulted in the planting of 30,233 shelterbelts containing 220 million trees that stretched for 18,600 miles (29,900 km).[7] The sharp-thorned trees were also planted as cattle-deterring hedges before the introduction of barbed wire and afterward became an important source of fence posts.
The heavy, close-grained yellow-orange wood is very dense and is prized for tool handles, treenails, fence posts, electrical insulators, and other applications requiring a strong dimensionally stable wood that withstands rot. Straight-grained osage timber (most is knotty and twisted) makes very good bows. In Arkansas, in the early 19th century, a good Osage bow was worth a horse and a blanket.[3] Additionally, a yellow-orange dye can be extracted from the wood, which can be used as a substitute for fustic and aniline dyes. When dried, the wood also makes excellent fire wood that burns long and hot.[8]
Today, the fruit is sometimes used to deter spiders, cockroaches, boxelder bugs, crickets, fleas, and other arthropods. An article posted by the Burke Museum in Washington State claims that this usage, in the case of spiders, has no evidence to support it.[9]"
Osage Orange has been spread through out North America because of there use as a living fence.
The fact that they are so thorny is why they made such a good living fence. Once barb wire was invented, there wasn't as much a need for them though. Today, they are scattered throughout Pennsylvania, most along stream bottoms. Their fruits can be carried by the river for miles.Live2Bowhunt said:
From Wikipedia: "The Osage-orange is commonly used as a tree row windbreak in prairie states, which gives it one of its colloquial names, "hedge apple". It was one of the primary trees used in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Great Plains Shelterbelt" WPA project, which was launched in 1934 as an ambitious plan to modify weather and prevent soil erosion in the Great Plains states, and by 1942 resulted in the planting of 30,233 shelterbelts containing 220 million trees that stretched for 18,600 miles (29,900 km).[7] The sharp-thorned trees were also planted as cattle-deterring hedges before the introduction of barbed wire and afterward became an important source of fence posts.
The heavy, close-grained yellow-orange wood is very dense and is prized for tool handles, treenails, fence posts, electrical insulators, and other applications requiring a strong dimensionally stable wood that withstands rot. Straight-grained osage timber (most is knotty and twisted) makes very good bows. In Arkansas, in the early 19th century, a good Osage bow was worth a horse and a blanket.[3] Additionally, a yellow-orange dye can be extracted from the wood, which can be used as a substitute for fustic and aniline dyes. When dried, the wood also makes excellent fire wood that burns long and hot.[8]
Today, the fruit is sometimes used to deter spiders, cockroaches, boxelder bugs, crickets, fleas, and other arthropods. An article posted by the Burke Museum in Washington State claims that this usage, in the case of spiders, has no evidence to support it.[9]"
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