Osage grows in Minnesota!

[DuBois]

Well maybe.
Thought I'd take advantage of the global warming thing and maybe these little trees will make it through the winters. Will keep em in garage this winter and put them on the 10 woody acres in spring. Got a few more in pots and a couple groups of 3 planted toward back of yard. Got seeds from hedge apples I picked up when cutting a guys downed tree last summer south of Des Moines.

Been a while since I posted on here. Life's been a little bumpy and busy. Hope all of you are doing well and it is good to be back.

Got a couple a bows in progress. One from the heart of fore mentioned downed tree and it will be a gift back to the man when I get back that way.

Peace,
Marco

[Dakota Kid]

It should do fine with the cold. Osage grows wild where I am(in small numbers) and we get -20 degree temps in winter and are always in the top 10 snowfall cities every year. If you winter them sheltered the first year or two, they should survive. Bear in mind that it is easier to freeze the entire root system in a potted plant than one in the ground, so keep an eye on the thermometer.

[Pat B]

Snow cover would actually help protect the root zone because it insulates some.
 I'd plant them as early in the spring as the ground thaws enough to work it and not fertilize later than late June or early July so you don't have tender growth when the cold weather hits. You might protect them from killing frosts early in the fall that could damage the young plants. An inverted 5gal plastic bucket with a heavy rock on it would work good for this.

[Dakota Kid]

I read somewhere that the germination ratio for osage increases significantly if the seeds are frozen for at least 30 days prior to sprouting. I have some in the freezer as we speak.

When the highway dept. plants oak trees in PA they are surrounded by a thin 6' semi-translucent plastic tube to protect them from the deer and promote upward growth. It creates light conditions similar to the forest canopy tricking the tree to race up to the light. I've never grown trees with the intent of harvesting staves, but I would think upward growth would be what you're looking for. I would imagine the tubes work for osage same as oak.

[JoJoDapyro]

I planted a black locust sapling last year. It was getting pretty bushy so I pruned it about 2 weeks ago. I bet it has grown close to a foot since!

[Pat B]

Many seeds need to go through a cooling time to break their dormancy. It is almost too late this year to get good success rate for seedlings over this winter. Keep those seeds in the freezer until next spring before you plant them.
 A good way to produce lots of osage seedlings is to place some osage balls in a bucket of water over winter. In the spring pour the slurry in a trench and cover it up. You will have lots of seedlings to transplant in the spring.

[Dakota Kid]

I won't start the seedlings outside at this point. I'd hoped to do it this spring, but we skipped the garden this year due to summer traveling plans. I may do them indoors over the winter to get them a head start for next year. I have a nice indoor garden setup that's been packed away for awhile. I used to grow rare and hard to find herbs and medicinal plants(the legit legal kind). I just have to make sure there's no traveling for my job before I sprout any thing. My wife can not keep plants alive at all. I couldn't kill them that fast if I tried. The kids seem fairly okay though so apparently it's just plant life that suffers.   

[mikekeswick]

I'm growing some 'sage here in England too! Mine had a had time but now it is well away. I am just about to take a load of cuttings from it and will overwinter the cuttings inside and then plant out. I intend to get loads growing wild round here. I've also got psuedosasa japonica bamboo growing and tartarian maple (hornbow cores) and black locust.
To save me searching a question for you osage experts - What are ideal growing conditions for osage?

[Dakota Kid]

From what I gathered it's a fairly resilient tree. It can handle an average new england winter with no issues, it grows quickly, and recovers from pruning and damage amazingly fast.  It's range used to be wider, but today the natural seed dispersion is almost non-existent. All the animals that used to spread the seeds have gone extinct, mainly mammoths and giant sloths. The animals that feed on the seeds today don't eat the whole fruit which does little to spread the seed.  The thorns were an adaptation to protect the tree's branches and leaves form large north american herbivore mammals that ate the "fruit", same as black locust. Unlike the locust, the seeds of the osage cannot be spread effectively by wind. Believe it or not the most common natural means of seed distribution is gravity and floating down rivers. The natural range of the osage has steadily been losing altitude for centuries. If it hadn't been intentionally grown by man for fence lines and bow making, it would only be found in a few low lying locations by now. If it wasn't such a desirable wood, there's a good chance it may not have survived.

You shouldn't have any issues growing it in England. It could handle/enjoy  a lot more sunshine, but it's not required.

[DuBois]

Good points made by all. I plan to keep them in the garage next to the warm partition wall and throw a sheet over them til spring. The few that are already in the ground I will do like Pat said and use a 5 gal bucket and some straw around the base til spring.
Yes, I read up on the germnation and osage does need a good freeze on the fruit. I just left mine in the clod Minnesota garage on a shelf last winter and then soaked em in a bucket with a rock to hold em under until they were rotten and mushy. Spent a morning with the 4 year old boy getting messy into them and picking seeds. Lots of em in there. It was fun.
I had sprouts come up actually weeks after I thought there was nothng there. That's how I got the ones in the back yard. Threw out the little degradable planter pots and they showed up later anyway.
Once they are growing it sounds like they are pretty tough trees except for maybe lack of sun and sever cold. We'll see 

PS: I would have had more than I would  have known what to do with if not for the hungry squirrels. I would find most of my seeds dug up each morning so I  had to put em on the deck where they left em alone. They even started eating the sprouts off at the base a few times. I stuck them back n the dirt and lots of water and they just kept right on growing up 

[DuBois]

I'm growing some 'sage here in England too! Mine had a had time but now it is well away. I am just about to take a load of cuttings from it and will overwinter the cuttings inside and then plant out. I intend to get loads growing wild round here. I've also got psuedosasa japonica bamboo growing and tartarian maple (hornbow cores) and black locust.
To save me searching a question for you osage experts - What are ideal growing conditions for osage?

'
Hey, you could be the "Johnny Hedgeappleseed" of England. Father of a new invasive species 

[Eric Garza]

I've pondered trying to get some started up here in Vermont's Champlain Valley. I bet it could handle the winters, especially now that the average winter seems to be getting warmer and warmer.

[KellyG]

cool but I dont think I would worry about the cold killing hedge. Kansas gets cold and below 0 cold with that darn wind. A little hedge stuck up on a hill seems to be the only thing that will grow. Not big or fast but growing still.