[AT] Osages to maples

[Dean Vinson]

Thanks, Cecil, and no doubt, osage orange is some tough stuff.   I cuss it
all the time but have to admire its tenacity.   

 

A month or so ago, while getting ready to have these little maple trees
planted, I discovered that one of the spots where I wanted to plant a maple
was practically right on top of where a medium-sized osage tree had
previously been.   I’d cut it down two or three years ago, burned the stump
down below ground level, smoothed over the area with new topsoil, and have
been mowing the area as part of the lawn ever since so it was long since
forgotten.   But I found the remains of the stump again when I was setting
stakes for where the new trees would go, so I had to dig it up and pull it
out.   I couldn’t get it to budge at first, so I continued digging and found
the main root (about 5” or 6” in diameter) extending off to one side.   I
dug around that root until I had enough room to cut it with the chainsaw,
after which I was able to pull the stump out with no problem.

 

But here’s the thing that surprised me:    When I cut through that big root,
it pumped sap out all around the edge just like a newly-cut tree in
springtime.   Stump burned and then buried two or three years ago, but that
root was still full of life.

 

Dean

 

 

From: AT [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Cecil
Bearden
Sent: Tuesday, November 5, 2019 8:26 PM
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Subject: Re: [AT] Osages to maples

 

That is a great change.  Osage Orange or Bois DÁrc  (Board Ark) as they are
called in this country is the biggest problem around water lines.  The roots
will compress the pipe and find or start a leak in a joint.  A new shoot
will start from a root sometimes 200 ft from the tree.  If you start pulling
the root, it will lead back to the tree.  If the root is large, you can form
it into a cane or any other shape and let it dry.  I made a cane from a root
and it polished up with a great grain and beautiful color.  Otherwise they
will take over a good pasture in a few years.  A 6in Osage orange will give
my 30K lb trackhoe one heck of a pull.  The D6D will pop it out then I spend
the next half hour chasing the roots.....
Great Work Dean!!
Cecil

On 11/5/2019 5:52 PM, Dean Vinson wrote:

About five years ago I started clearing out an old osage orange hedgerow,
maybe 150 yards long, that hadn’t been tended in many decades.   Lots of
time with the chainsaw, lots of bonfires, lots of work with the Super M
dragging logs and pulling roots and hauling firewood, lots of work with the
JD 620 and rear blade grading and smoothing.   Yesterday I had a crew plant
eight new red maple trees on the same line where the osage trees had been,
and this afternoon I got the Super M out again to haul trashcans full of
water back to them.

 

The top half of the attached photo is the 2014 view, showing one of my first
bonfires as I began clearing out the osage and honeysuckle and briars.   My
goal back then was just to clear out some breathing space around a nice
mature walnut tree that I’d discovered earlier that year after noticing its
top sticking up above the canopy of the older but shorter osage trees.
It’s not visible in the photo but it’d be to the right of the bonfire.
After a couple of years of occasional trimming and cleanup and thinning out,
I set my sights on removing the hedgerow completely.   (There’s also another
one, but I’m just cleaning it up and will keep many of the big trees).

 

The bottom half of the attached photo is the view from a few hours ago.
The mass of trees and brambles from the top photo had been just to the left
of the little gravel lane behind where the tractor is now sitting.   The
tall trees behind the tractor had all managed to survive despite being
engulfed by the sprawling osages; the dark one in the middle is the big
walnut I’d first started clearing out around five years earlier.
Interesting that those trees all lean slightly away from where the osages
had been.   The new maples, hardly visible since they’re small, are dead on
the centerline of the original hedgerow.

 

Will be interesting to see how the new trees do over time.   It’s been fun,
sort of, plugging away at that scraggly old hedgerow over the years, and
darn nice to have a couple old tractors to help.

 

Dean Vinson

Saint Paris, Ohio





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