What is this thing?

[morganj614]

dont know what it is but i found one at st. marys collage last weekend.

And I will bet you are not a student there pingrrr? Is that you?

 

[fttrsbeerwench]

Hey I haven't seen those around either... I would put it under the house since it's stinky and bug don't like it..Do you think it would work for possums??..Got anymore?

 

[BS Gal]

Hey I haven't seen those around either... I would put it under the house since it's stinky and bug don't like it..Do you think it would work for possums??..Got anymore?

I can send a guy up to collect them if you really want them. I don't think that is his usual job, but I'll tell him it's a hazard and he'll be on his way.

 

[Otter]

Looks like an old beat up tape measure.

 

[Dutch6]

Here's a better picture. What do you think?

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/education/ExoticSpecies/images/Osage-Orange.jpg&imgrefurl=http://dnr.state.il.us/LANDS/EDUCATION/EXOTICSPECIES/Osageorange.htm&h=235&w=350&sz=34&hl=en&start=6&tbnid=2Fvviyb9HPcO2M:&tbnh=81&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dosage%2Borange%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8

Good find! It's also known as a hedge apple.

 

[jazz lady]

LEFT: An Osage orange, a large, sticky, fiber-filled inedible fruit that ripens in late Autumn. Supposedly, they are useful as pest repellants because of their unpleasant odor. (November 22, 2004)

Very interesting. I've seen them around before but never knew what they were. You learn something new every day.

 

[jazz lady]

They even have a Hedge Ball Chuckin' Contest.



<img src="http://hedgeballchuckin.com/db4/00306/hedgeballchuckin.com/_uimages/23.jpg">

<img src="http://www.hedgeballchuckin.com/db4/00306/hedgeballchuckin.com/_uimages/Scan0030c.jpg">

Man, they're pretty serious about it.

 

[devenny99]

It looks like a walnut tree seed. We have a bunch of them in our way back yard.

 

[Larry Gude]

Furiously...

Where is Larry when we need him?

...surfing so I can pretend I know all about it.

It's not supposed to be common around here, so, you didn't really see it. The web says so.


I've seen them around but never knew what they were.

 

[White Buddah]

Before moving here, we used to see them. (Newark, IL) They would sell from a dollar to two dollars. Mom always put them around the basement. I don't know if they really kept bugs and spiders out, but she seemed to think so. Friends and I used to hit them like baseballs until we realized how sticky they are inside. Never had one fall on me, but I do know they hurt when thrown.

 

[jwwb2000]

I haven't seen one of these in Maryland before. I'm orginally from the Midwest where these are very common. We refer to them as Hedge Balls, but I've heard them called Hedge Apples before. Not sure what they are supposed to be used for, other than growing new Hedge ball trees. My grandmother used to swear you should keep one or two in the house to keep bugs away. *shrug*

There are lots of "facts" about Hedge balls on this website:

http://hedgeapple.com/

My family always called em Hedge Apples. We used them to through under the house in the fall/winter to keep the mice out. And for some reason, there were not as many spiders around the house when the hedge apples were around during the spring/summer. It is a natural and safe alternative to all the pesticides and poisions you would normally use.

 

[OldHillcrestGuy]

I bet it hurts to be struck by one.

There are a couple of those tree's I know of in Charlotte Hall, funny thing the wife asked me just a couple of days ago what the heck kind of tree it was, there is one on Charlotte Hall Rd just up from Dent Chapel on the edge of the road, and alot of them have been dropping in the road, would not want to be driving by and have one drop as I went by. How heavy are they?

Hey I stopped in the visitor center to check it out last Saturday, they did a really nice job fixing up that house, and there were 7 visitors at one time.

 

[bohman]

I don't see many around here, but they are more common in Cecil county. As kids, we called them "monkey balls." I had no idea they were useful for anything other than throwing. Or that people had a contest with them; looks like Punkin Chunkin in Del.

 

[desertrat]

There are a couple of those tree's I know of in Charlotte Hall, funny thing the wife asked me just a couple of days ago what the heck kind of tree it was, there is one on Charlotte Hall Rd just up from Dent Chapel on the edge of the road, and alot of them have been dropping in the road, would not want to be driving by and have one drop as I went by. How heavy are they?

Hey I stopped in the visitor center to check it out last Saturday, they did a really nice job fixing up that house, and there were 7 visitors at one time.

Weighs about the same as a grapefruit.