Osage Orange Seed Propagation to Serve as Che Fruit Understock

I have some softball-size Osage Oranges.

Can I just pot these up in dirt and get seedlings? I’ve seen others use more elaborate methods, but I’m wondering if anyone has been successful simply throwing the lumpy orbs into pots filled with dirt. Can the seeds survive the winter cold and get adequately started in this manner?

Eventually I would plant them as understocks destined for topworking to accomodate Seedless Che scions.

Has anyone succeeded using this simple method?

Matt,
Cows eat them here and that’s where most of them come from. My squirrel loves them and that’s what he eats in the winter. I feel sorry for anything that eats him! Here is an article on planting them http://homeguides.sfgate.com/plant-osage-orange-hedges-46767.html. They make it into a slurry and ferment it first https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMJFcnuAFZQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umrcLMKn-wE and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZsztoZtB4U and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d3YvVRaChA and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcEDaUp74Qo

1 Like

It seems like Osage sends up root suckers here, has any one tried to propagate root cuttings?

1 Like

That first video is hilarious. The sort of fun but undignified things that we folks do as gardeners. Get smelly osage orange slime flung up right into your eyeballs-- ack!

1 Like

Yes just plant the fruit or let it rot in place . Even half or 1/4 pieces should have enough seed . Root cuttings will grow . Run a bulldozer through a old hedge row and root pieces will send up shoots .

1 Like

I would let them rot outside for the winter then break it up.

2 Likes

I used to just pitch them in the bed of the pickup and let 'em blet (yeah, I mean rot, but it sounds more fruity if I say ‘blet’) over the winter. Be sure to wear some rubber or plastic gloves when you start picking through the mushy things to isolate the seeds - they stink!, and it’ll take days for the funk to wear off your hands otherwise…

2 Likes

It would appear my Osage Oranges have germinated. I just threw them in a pot with dirt and let them sit out all winter. Impressive!

3 Likes

An update on the Osage Oranges I potted up. Today’s photo:

4 Likes

Osage orange will sprout from root pieces also . Learned this after some dozer work was done .

1 Like