Green Hedge

[Gadus]

Green colored hedge post? I am looking for a couple of old hedge post that may have turned green. I believe it is just the part of the post that has been underground for quite a few years. Has anybody ever ran across any or even seen them?
Gadus

 

[Gadus]

I need to clarify that I'm talking about Osage Orange hedge post!

 

[George]

We have lots of Osage Orange ( hedge apple ) posts around here - - - you have to do selective cutting to get post stright enough to use but they really last a long time and the remainder of the tree is great firewood.

The county extention offices started them in the early 1900s planting them about 18" apart for permanent live fences

 

[Buck]

There are literally thousands of hedge posts in this area. I have set alot of them, pulled a fair amount and burnt a bunch of old ones at hog roasts, but I have never seen one that turned green. Two years ago I had one that had been in the ground 40+ years, then laid in a post pile another 10 or so. A friend that makes custom knives wanted some wood for knife handles so i cut him some out of that post. The wood was just as hard and dense as the new stuff. Once those post age about five years, they get so hard you can't drive a staple in them! George is right, hedge is EXCELLENT firewood, heat our house and fur shed with it.

 

[lefty]

I cut many a fence post out of hedge apple trees as a kid Along the Iroquois river in Indiana , Never saw one turn green . I would bet most of Guys havent see an Osage Orange tree . If you had a pic of one with its berrys on would be good to show the ranchers !!!!!l

 

[burnt]

Well what a coincidence that osage orange would come up in conversation just now. I had never seen it here in southern Ontario until a few days ago when I picked up a bit of oak lumber at a local sawmill. The sawmill operator had a few logs of it come in from down close to the US border (Niagara area). So apparently it grows this far north. It has a coarse, grey-brown bark, a thin layer of white sapwood and then a yellowish heartwood.

I brought a slab of it home so I'll see if I can take a few pictures of the bark and the wood grain side as well.

My FIL was familiar with it since he had lived in Kansas in his younger years. They called it "horse apple" down there. He said it would bend the staple if you tried to drive one into it once it was seasoned.

http://laptopgardener.com/?p=817

http://www.backyardnature.net/n/w/osage-or.htm

 

[Faster horses]

They sell those down here to put in your basement to keep the
spiders away. They work well.

 

[Gadus]

Thanks for the reply guys, I have used alot of hedge(osage orange) over the years to make custom duck calls and I have never come across any osage that turned green from bieng underground for numerous years but I know a person or two who has. I would like to find a post or two for myself.

 

[balestabber]

http://www.osageorange.com/

they also make bows out of them.the history is interesting on osage orange.they were used for bows and clubs years ago,and will still turn a stubborn cow around.

the staves for bows,knives and crafts can be very expensive.