Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: ionicmuffin on January 25, 2013, 06:46:26 pm
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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.
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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.
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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
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then get to planting son, get to planting
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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....
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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?
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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!
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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;)
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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.
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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 ;D
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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.
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that sounds worth it to me!
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Alan (avcase) was telling me that he is growing osage in his yard in oregon and says that it only takes 4-5 years to have bow worthy wood if I remember him correctly. He said he just harvested his first tree a while ago. Try sending him a pm and ask if he has any advice.
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thanks weylin :D
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Its funny. Until I started looking at making a bow I had never heard much good about "hedgeappple" trees. The 'apples' just seem to get in the way but as kids they were fun to throw in the creek and made good .22 targets as they floated away. . We have always had a bunch of it scattered around in groves on dads farm. Dad says it makes good corner posts for fences but thats about it. I get on here and people are considering driving across country to find some and everyone calls it "King". One mans trash is another mans treasure.
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I have never TRIED to grow osage but we have butt loads of it around here. Most of it is only fit for firewood but occasionally I find some that is straight and bow worthy. In my search for good osage I have made some observations that may prove to be helpful.
It does no good to grow it on purpose unless you can also grow it straight. So that means that you will need to stake it and prune it as it grows. Also keeping it a little bit in the shade of larger trees will make it fight for light and want to grow straight. the other thing is to make sure that it is somewhat protected from prevailing winds so that it doesn't develop twist.
Thick rings are produced by an abundance of moisture and nutrients so keeping it faithfully watered and fertilized should help it put on mass quicker. I have no doubt that it would grow well in Wash or Oregon doesn't everything? It is gonna want to put on alot of thorny branches early as a protection against things that might want to destroy it so it will take some tending to but I think it can be done.
I can say this though, I'm glad I don't have to worry about it. I just need to find some creek bottoms near pasture that has hedge rows and then find out who owns it to gain permission to cut some if i find any thats worthy to be made into a bow. Danny
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Yes, it grows well here...kinda slow, but I have a few 8 foot trees that are due to be pruned this spring.
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Oddly enough on our farm I tend to find it on hill tops. The 2 places I think of off the top of my head are near old house places. Everyone else seems to say creek bottoms.
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Thanks so much Yosemite ben!
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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....
Do both. I have planted many trees to replace the ones I have cut.