Pacific Northwest, growing osage?

[ionicmuffin]

So ive been considering growing osage, and i was thinking it would be good in washington because the hardiness map for washington is an 8 and osage grows from 5-9. on top of that we get enough rain for the liking of osage. any ideas hints or tips? also, about how many years(3, 5, 10?) before it would be about 4-8 inches in diameter??? even if it doesnt grow amazingly here i would still like to do so because any bow wood i get out of them would be amazing.

[sadiejane]

most of the osage i work on are 6-10 rings per inch.
tho i have had osage with fat rings, like 3 per inch at least at one end.
even read here some time back a fella made an osage bow that the limbs ended up being only one ring, they were that thick(like 1/2"!)
but with the average, likely at least 20 yrs unless ya wanna make a simple sapling bow.
was helping a pal split a osage log about 15" in diameter. i think dale counted about 65...
and there is some osage in wash an oregon, planted back when it was planted so much in the midwest.
any chance there were osage posts shipped out west?
i'd think it would grow well there.
so either ya got 20 yrs to wait, or think of it as a contribution to other bowyers to come along after ya.
one way to keep the tradition alive.

[ionicmuffin]

im willing to wait 10-20 years before i harvest, my biggest issue is not having any wood on my property 10-20 years from now, so maybe starting now will help im 18, so i have many years(hopefully) before im too old for this

[sadiejane]

then get to planting son, get to planting

[blackhawk]

Instead of investing and waiting 20+ years take a two week vacation and go for a road trip and go cut all the hedge you can....

[Lemos]

I planted some here in Salem Oregon from seeds three years ago and it's now five foot tall and one inch in diameter . I've seen it at a couple of local nurseries that were bigger and the owner said they'll grow here and well if you fertilize them.   On a side note I like Blackhawks idea .....ROAD TRIP!!  Who's up for it?

[hedgeapple]

When my wife and I bought our farm 15 years ago, it was pretty much pasture land with the exception of some trees in the fence row and gulleys.  A lot of these trees were osage.  We've let most of the 50 acres grow up. I now have some volunteer osage that are 4 to 6 inch dia.  Unfortunately, 95% are twisted and have limbs through them.  I did cut 6 or 8 sapplings about 4 years ago.  One day I'm going to tackle them . 

If they grow well, I think you could get some sappling bows in 10 years.  My suggestion is to keep them pruned at the base as much as you can.

The old saying about planting tree is:  The best time to plant trees was 20 years ago.  The second best time to plant them is NOW!

[hedgeapple]

Muffin, I admire the fact that you're 18 and are planning for the future.  If you need hedgeapples (the fruit) or sapplings I'd be happy to see what I find for you.

[sadiejane]

road trip and planting are both in order!
come fall remind me(i aint 18 anymore and forget things quite readily these days)
be happy to send ya a bushel o hedge apples full of seeds for yr planting.
in the meantime, grab up one of yr buds and head east young man
theres hedge for the taking in the prairie

[YosemiteBen]

got a bunch near my home in the Sierra Nevada foothills - brought in during the gold rush. There are a lot of fruits on the ground currently.

[Pat B]

Many of the landscape and street trees growing in the US come from the Willamette Valley of Oregon. I'd guess Washingtom ain't that much different.

[Lemos]

Nope Washington and Oregon aren't too much different weather wise. I work in Washington seven months out of the year,and as far as I can tell the yew ,vine maple and cascara I cut down are just like the ones I cut here in Oregon;)

[Dan K]

I'd be up for a road trip this spring or summer!  I don't have a truck but I've been trying to lose 10 pounds for a year and cutting down a bunch of trees would sure do the trick.

[ionicmuffin]

I agree with you there blackhawk  i will probably take a road trip sometime in the next year or two so i can find a bunch of it to last me a while. and i would like some hedgeapples when are they normally in season? YosemiteBen has them. if you want to send me some pm me 

[hedgeapple]

The fruit, hedgeapples, fall off the tree in Sept-Oct here in KY.  I think there's some still on the ground in my yard.  I'll go gather some.  I might just go ahead and plant some of the seeds this spring just to see what happens.  I bet is I actually "cultivated" them, fertilized them well maybe with miracle grow, I could have sappling bows in 4 to 6 years.