Osage Orange Seeds 10 ct.

 If you don't have acces to the famed Osage orange wood, now you can grow your own! These packs of 10 Osage seeds come from the fruits of premium Midwestern Osage orange trees and are ready to be sprouted to create your own crop of bow wood.  Only the plumpest, fattest seeds are selected to ensure they produce the healthiest trees.

Osage is very easy to grow.  Simply plant them about 1 inch deep in moist potting soil and seedlings should sprout within 10-14 days.  I move them to progressively bigger pots as they grow and I keep them in pots for the first year.  I let them have full sun during the spring and summer but I bring them indoors before the first frost and I keep them indoors during their first winter.  Occasional watering with plant food like Miracle Gro will really give them a head start in growth. In the spring of the second year I transplant them outside into holes that are a 50/50 mix of potting soil and local soil.  Water them well after the transplant and keep an eye on them for the next few weeks, as the leaf color will indicate if there is a problem.  If the leaves begin turning yellow, water them with a root stimulator, sometimes called "Quick Start".  That should get the roots growing and will get them transitioned into their new home very quickly.

Osage is very hardy and can survive in all kinds of soils and environmental conditions.  Once established it grows surprisingly quickly.  Osage can be left to grow on its own, but will do much better if pruned.  If left alone, Osage tends to branch profusely and form a short, spreading tree with very few straight branches suitable for bows.  I prune my Osage trees so the trunk is straight with no branches.  This forces it to grow upward rather than out, and will result in much straighter, bow quality trunks within a few years.  Pruned trees will also reach sexual maturity sooner and should begin producing fruits within 5-7 years.   

Osage is difficult to kill once established.  Even if the tree is cut at ground level, numerous suckers will sprout from the trunk and will grow incredibly quickly, sometimes aquiring heights of 7-8 feet within the first year.  This ancient pruning technique is called coppicing, and will result in arrow-straight and virtually knot-free bowstaves within 4-5 years.  These suckers can be harvested almost indefinitely every few years.  Besides producing excellent quality bows, the thin, orange, papery bark that covers the roots can be boiled to extract a yellow dye.  The inner bark can also be twisted into a very strong cordage.     

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