Pruning the Osage Orange Trees
With weather on our side here at my farm, my outdoor grounds crew is crossing off lots of tasks from the list, including pruning the long row of Osage orange trees along the fence of one of my horse pastures.
Have you ever heard of the Osage orange? The Osage orange, Macular pomifera, is actually not an orange at all and is more commonly known as a hedge apple, bow wood, or bodark. The fruit is wrinkly and bumpy in appearance, and considered inedible because of the texture and taste, but they're very interesting and fun to grow. Pruning and grooming these trees is challenging because of the many thorns, which serve as a natural defense mechanism against animals and humans, but regular maintenance also encourages fruitfulness and good growth.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- Despite its name, the Osage orange is actually a member of the fig family, Moraceae, and a cousin to the mulberry tree, which is also in the same family.
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- The Osage orange is dioecious meaning that there are both female and male trees; only female trees produce fruit. The fruit grows on thick branches, oftentimes in groups.
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- It includes a dense cluster of hundreds of small fruits. Some say it resembles the many lobes of a brain.
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- And, cut in half, the fruit exposes a pithy core surrounded by up to 200 small seeds that are much sought-after by squirrels. It is also filled with a sticky latex sap that some say repels insects.
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- The leaves are three to five inches long and about three-inches wide. They are thick, firm, dark green and pale green in spring and summer and then yellow in fall. There is also a line down the center of each leaf, with lines forming upside-down V-shapes extending from the center line to the edge of the leaf.
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- Here is a closer look at the yellow autumn leaves – so bright. Osage oranges should be grown in full sun on well-drained soil.
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- Here is another autumn photo of the Osage trees. They are located along three sides of my North Maple Paddock surrounding the run-in field and shed, not far from my tennis court, I have Osage orange trees. Properly maintained, these trees make a lovely natural hedge and fence. When established, they can withstand almost anything – heat, cold, wind, drought, poor soil, ice storms, and rot.
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- The wood of the Osage orange tree is extremely hard and durable. On older trunks the bark is orange-brown and furrowed. The heavy, close-grained yellow-orange wood is very dense and is prized for tool handles, treenails, and fence posts.
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- Here they are before pruning. These Osage Orange trees grow very fast – the shoots from a single year can grow up to three to six feet long. I planted many of the Osage trees at the farm several years ago and they’re thriving.
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- And here’s their natural defense – Osage orange branches are armed with stout, straight spines growing from the leaf axils.
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- In winter or early spring when the trees are bare, they are pruned to keep them in bounds. Without pruning, Osage orange trees grow in dense unruly thickets as multi-stemmed shrubs.
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- Pasang cuts dead, damaged, diseased, or deranged branches first. Then he prunes out competing leaders, retaining only one strong upright with evenly-spaced branches. Here he is using a pole pruner – it has the cutting power of hand pruners but a reach of eight feet and more.
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- Pasang is a skilled pruner and oversees the pruning of all our smaller trees on the farm.
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- For higher branches, Pasang cuts from the cage of our Hi-Lo.
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- He uses a STIHL telescoping pole pruner. It has a quiet, zero-exhaust emission, and is very lightweight. Plus, with an adjustable shaft, the telescoping pole pruner can cut branches up to 16 feet above the ground.
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- When pruning, always encourage branches to grow toward the outside of the tree and eliminate those that grow toward the center or cross other branches. Air and light need to penetrate the foliage to the center of the tree as much as possible.
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- Cesar pulls off the spiny branches that have not fallen from the tree.
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- And Phurba carries them to a clearing for proper pick up and disposal. Because of the thorny branches, it is important to wear protective glasses, long sleeves, and thick gloves when working with these trees.
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- Chhiring uses the bucket of a tractor to crush the pruned branches, so they are more manageable.
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- The branches are taken to the compost pile to await their turn in the tub grinder.
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- Regular and thorough pruning gives the branches more circulation and room to grow. This is what they look like all pruned. We prune these Osage orange trees every couple of years.
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- And do you know… before the invention of barbed wire in the 1800s, thousands of miles of hedge were constructed by planting young Osage Orange trees closely together. The goal was to grow them “horse high, bull strong, and hog tight.” Farmers wanted them to be tall enough that a horse would not jump it, stout enough that a bull would not push it, and woven so tightly that a hog could not find its way through. The crew will be pruning these trees for a couple more days. It’s great to know all my trees are well maintained through the years.
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