Osage stave hunters

[Badger]

  When you guys cut an osage tree do you find it usually comes back sending shoots straight up, maybe straighter than the original tree?

[bluegill68]

Definitely my experiences, some of my best staves have come from the 2nd or 3rd cuttings off of old hedge rows. However, it does not seem to have an impact on grain straightness.  Some will be pipe straight but the grain will barber pole.

[blackhawk]

Depends on the conditions Steve....I've seen em where the ole hedgerow is now completely engulfed by forest surrounding it,and in these conditions they tend to grow more "up" and not out like if the hedge is out in the open where it'll bush "out" more...but those sucker shoots take off fast and can easily be several feet tall after the first year after its been cut...

[Badger]

  I have a bunch of potted osage as in bonzai trees. After I cut them way back it seems like the shoots go straight up a lot faster than most of my plants.

[RidgeRunner]

The Very Best Osage I have ever found was all growing in the bottom of creek channels.
Growing in such places forced the trees to grow straight in a search for sun light.
It also keeps them out of the wind. 

I have often wondered it the massive loads of seed balls that grow on Osage trees has anything to with the way they grow.... 

David

[Buckeye Guy]

Yes  Steve but,
as Chris said conditions take hold real quick and who knows where it is headed then !
As one example they may get six feet high and a big snow covers all but the top two feet  and the critters eat it off , because it is all they have they can get a hold of,
then they may go only sideways for the first year after that  and you soon know why its called hedge !
Critters ,sun ,wind ,weight of fruit , and other plants all kinds of things shape the product

[osage outlaw]

The second growth that I've seen and cut has been mostly straight.  That's some of my favorite stuff to cut.  It almost always has thick growth rings.  My Dad and Grandpa cut osage for years and years as firewood.  On almost every stump there is second growth.  I've seen it shoot straight up off the trunks of fallen trees that still had a couple roots in the ground.

[toomanyknots]

  When you guys cut an osage tree do you find it usually comes back sending shoots straight up, maybe straighter than the original tree?

Yes, usually really fast too. Usually grows a crap load of shoots, like a huge bush.

[toomanyknots]

  I've seen it shoot straight up off the trunks of fallen trees that still had a couple roots in the ground.

I see that all the time too. I think mulberry, it's relative, can be like that too.

[Renacs]

I have a couple that ive been grooming for about 5 yrs a theyre about 13ft tall fairly straight and sone about a inch1/2 thick. Last yr. I cut all the thorns off of a couple and they grew back within months.  The same with my honey locust.