Growing Osage

[kylerprochaska]

I recently received 6 hedge apples and I want to pant them to see if I can start some trees....the apples are dry though....is this ok? if so does anyone have any experience in starting osage from seeds?  where do I start?

Thanks,
Kyler

[Pat B]

From my plant book, The Manual Of Woody Landscape Plants, by Michael A. Dirr...."seeds exhibit a slight dormancy which can be overcome by stratification for 30 days at 41 deg(F) or by soaking in water for 48 hours".   
   Most woody plant seeds will go into a dormancy when dry and some even when fresh. This dormancy will need to be broken for the seeds to germinate.   The way I have heard of this being done with osage is to place the hedge apples in a bucket of water and let them over winter. In the spring pour the slurry of the pulp and seeds in a trench and cover it. After a short time they will germinate. In this situation I would allow the seedlings to grow until next spring then transplant them where you want them.   
   If you can clean the seeds from the dried fruit, I would place them in a zip lock bag with some damp(not wet) sand, place them in the refrigerator for a month then take them out and plant them. The month in the cool frig should break the dormancy and allow them to germinate.

[Timo]

The slurry and trench method is the exact way I was told the old timers here in Mo. created all our hedge rows. We have miles and miles of them. ;

[aero86]

no kidding.  just come to texas, you can get all you want..

[HatchA]

Anyone feel like posting some seeds to Ireland...?

[mullet]

 I've got to in my front yard. They were 2' tall when I planted them 4 years ago and they are still 2' tall. Even after tons of fertilizer and water.

[kylerprochaska]

If I take the fruit and freeze them and un freeze them a few times in an ice cream bucket will that do the trick? I guess I have enough of them i can try the zip loc and the sand  too 

[El Destructo]

Ky......stick them in the Refrigerator...and forget them for a Month...then either soak them in a Bucket of water till the seeds slough off...or you can do like We did...and scrape them all off like scraping Corn off a Cob...then you can either just bury them...or put them in rooting medium...and grow starters...and then transplant them where you want them later...the ole slop in a Bucket seems to work just fine though....and just pour it in spots or a Trough...and let them grow.......

[kylerprochaska]

Thanks guys!  I got about 100 seeds out of one of the dried fruits.  wrapped them in a damp paper towel and put them in a ziplock in the fridge....I'll leave them in the fridge for the next month and see if they take root 

[El Destructo]

Man that must have been a small fruit.... I got over a thousand from two Apples

[kylerprochaska]

im sure I missed quite a few I was being pretty picky with em

[Eric Krewson]

Commercial growers all use tree shelters for seedlings. I suspect these tube like shelters would greatly increase the growth rate of osage.

I have grown a bunch of osage seedlings in the past, gave them all away to folk who wanted to try to grow their own bow staves.

I sprouted a bunch of pecan trees from nuts last year and will try the tree shelters on a few of the seedlings to see how well they work.

[Pat B]

Your seeds will not sprout or "take root" in the refrigerated baggie. What the chill period does is break the dormancy of the seed which will allow them yo germinate when planted. It may take 2 weeks to a month for the germination to take place after planting.

[mullet]

 I brought home some seeds from SC a few years ago and sprouted them in those little Plant Rooting kits you get from Ace Hardware. They came up in two weeks.

[kylerprochaska]

Thanks for all the help guys Pat I put them in the paper towels because i didn't have any sand handy.  Im also trying the "slurry" method to break the dormancy.  I had one that was still soft so I put it in a small bucket full of water and I am going to freeze it and let it thaw and continue the process until it turns into a mush.  I will then poor the slurry into a larger planter and see if they come up.  The other seeds I will leave in the fridge for a month and then plant them in a seed starting kit and see what happens.  Never learn by not doing anything right 

-Ky