

When your horse has a belly filled with apples, it is likely to cause colic, which may further lead to founder. However, too much of something is poisonous, and this is true for fruits. Most people like to feed their horses with treats such as apples. This oddly shaped tree does not grow very tall (roughly 26-49 feet) but its wood is extremely dense making it a great firewood choice. Osage orange firewood, also known as hedge, horse apple or bodark, is one of the best firewood types available. Because of its highly hard texture and unpalatability, horses typically avoid the fruit when browsing, especially when there is alternative food available to satisfy hunger. Can a horse eat a horse apple?ĭo horses really eat horse apples? Hedge apples have been proved in studies to be safe for horses to eat. Those that come from the Dalgo and Centennial trees are considered the most edible. In fact, crab apples are usually simply not eaten because they can be extremely sour or spongy in texture. This is because crab apples are not always palatable. You must add apples to a pig’s diet slowly and feed with moderation. Apples are one of the most nutritious foods for pigs, and luckily, they also love them! Like humans, pigs can be fussy about certain foods, but most enjoy apples. If you do not have access to a hedge apple tree, the fruit can be purchased at grocery stores and farmers’ markets. Using hedge apples to control your spider population is an easy, chemical-free pest-control option. Hedge apples are not poisonous, but they are an effective repellent against insects and spiders. The drying hedge apples will mold around the foil and resemble ruffled flowers when dry. These 4-inch-wide fruits fall to the ground when ripe, but are not edible. The bumpy, yellow-greenish fruits, known as hedge-apples, ripen in September through October. Fact: The story that the fruit of the Osage orange tree (also called hedge apple, monkey ball, or spider ball) can repel or ward off spiders turns out to be extremely widespread in Midwestern states, where the trees are common. Myth: “Hedge apples” (Osage orange fruit) or horse chestnuts can be used to repel spiders.

Your cat or dog will turn there nose away from hedgeapples. Although, many cattle have died from hedgeapples because they get lodge in their throats and they suffocate. Squirrels and chipmunks love hedge apples humans do not, but they’re not poisonous.

Horses generally bypass the fruit when browsing because of its extremely hard texture and unpalatability, especially when there is other forage to satiate hunger. Studies have shown that hedge apples are innocuous to horses when ingested. Ripe fruit seems to work better than green fruit. Use whole fruits or cut them into sections and place them around the yard. They seem to repel several insect pests including fleas. Tap them dry using a piece of cloth or tissue paper.ĪNSWER: Horse apples (also called Bois d’arc balls or Osage oranges) are the fruit of the native Bois d’arc tree.Run it through water to remove the slimy coating.Scoop out all the seeds and put into a container.Claims abound that hedge apples around the foundation or inside the basement will repel boxelder bugs, crickets, spiders and other pests. The use of the hedge apples for insect control is one of the most enduring pest management home remedies. While the oil in the fruit isn’t strong enough to actually kill the insects or keep them away from a very large area, the fruit provides a natural way to keep small areas cockroach-free and may help keep the roaches from entering your house.

Hedge apples may help keep cockroaches out of your house. The oils in hedge apples are well known for repelling pests such as spiders and mice. And those who can look past the hedge apple’s bumpy, ugly exterior, eat its seeds. This is largely due to the unpalatable taste of its fruit despite its orange-like smell. Hedge apples, also known as osage oranges, are generally considered inedible. Hedge apple wood is useful for the production of items including tree nails, tool handles, electrical insulators and fence posts. Hedge apples have historically been used as a way to fence in and control livestock (hence the name “hedge apple”). The tree isn’t suitable to use for landscaping because of the large green fruit and sticker or thorns on the tree. You can use the Hedge Apple tree around the foundation of your home as a pest control for cockroaches, spiders, crickets and other bugs that enter your home.
