How to Propagate Osage Orange Trees

The tree the Osage Indians used to make their bows was used by generations of farmers for hedge fencing. The plant has a knobby green fruit about the size of a softball. Folk wisdom attributes it with the power to repel spiders and bugs but scientists are not convinced. The autumn foliage is attractive and the wood extremely hard. Osage orange propagation is by grafting, root cuttings or planting seeds. The fruit is stringy and tough inside holding up to 200 small seeds encased in a sticky, white juice. A slimy husk surrounds each individual seed and must be removed for germination to occur.

Things You'll Need

• Osage orange fruit
• Pan deep enough to contain fruit broken into pieces
• Water
• Food strainer
• Potting soil and 3 inch pots (optional)

Instructions

Propagating Osage Oranges from Seed

1. Select Osage orange fruit from among those ripe fruits that have dropped beneath the tree. Do not pluck the specimen from the tree. They have many seeds, so you may need only a few.

2. Open the fruit if you wish to plant in autumn. Break into pieces and place them in a deep pan. Cover with water. Leave them to soak.

3. Change the water if it begins to ferment. Allow the fruit to soak for 48 to 72 hours until the seed slips easily from the pulp.

4. Pour the pulp and seeds into a strainer. Run cool water over the mass and gently rub the seeds to remove the remaining pulp from them. Discard the pulp.

5. Plant the seeds into pots or directly outside. Plant seeds 2 inches deep. Keep soil moist, but not wet. When planting outside, plant 12 inches apart.

6. Select fruit in autumn if you wish to plant in spring. Store the Osage oranges outside over the winter. The fruit can be left on an open porch, in piles under trees or anywhere that will expose it to frost and thaw cycles throughout the winter. This treatment stratifies the seed for planting. Animals may seek the fruit for food so watch out for theft. If necessary, store fruit in wire cages to protect from animals.

7. Tear open the fruit in the springtime. Look to see if the Osage orange seeds have become separated from their casing through the cycle of freeze and thaw outside. Remove them from the fruit; soak overnight in water and plant as in Step 5 above .

Tips & Warnings

• Seed can be can be planted in the greenhouse in January or February or outside in springtime.

• Not all of the Osage orange trees will bear fruit because are either male or female, and only the females will bear fruit.

• Osage oranges have sharp thorns, spread rapidly and are difficult to prune because the wood is so hard and thorn covered. So think carefully about planting them in your yard. If you need a very tough hedge this is a good choice.

References

• Great Plains Nature Center
• USDA Forest Service