Months of the Hedge Ball Fall

• The hedge ball fruit forms in the spring to early summer months after the Osage orange tree blooms. The fruit reaches full maturity and falls from the tree in either September or October.
  
  

The Fruit

• The fruit form only on female trees, which require a male tree for pollination. The fruit form after the flowers, which are green in color, mature. The fruit have a rough texture, similar to that of an orange, and matures to a yellowish color. Hedge balls are commonly about 4 inches in diameter.
  
  

The Tree

• The Osage orange can grow as high as 60 feet tall. The female trees form sharp 1/2-inch-long stickers that are tough enough to puncture tires under some conditions. The wood is extremely hard and resilient and was prized by Native Americans for building bows. Along with archery equipment it is sometimes used for specialty furniture.
  
  

Hedge Ball Uses

• Traditionally, hedge apples were thought to repel both rodents and insects, and were often kept in closets or cupboards of frontier homes. Modern research disputes this belief. Iowa State University research says chemicals contained in the hedge ball are known to repel insects, but they are not present in high enough concentrations in the hedge ball.