There are no chemicals involved so I guess it's a green tip. If you have a problem with roaches, ants, mice, or other pests inside the house, gather some crab apples and place them around your basement, crawl space, and foundation of your house. My in-laws have done this for years and haven't even seen a trace of a pest or rodent.
By Tammy from Cookeville, TN
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Hedge Apples work well for this. Known in the midwest as Osage Orange.
Where can you buy horse apples at
Can you give a little more info? How many? Do you place them close together? Or every few feet apart ? Just a better understanding of how this is done.
My Mother did the same thing and you are right no bugs at all but I will tell you that house house had the nasty odor the whole time she had those things around. She wrapped the bottom in Tin foil and eventually they rotted and leaked. Nasty odor. I would not recommend it at all.
I think you meant Hedge apples. They are hard and look more like a drying up green orange. Believe me when I say hard my sister and I were picking some in Missouri once and one fell on her head. It hurt! They are the size of a regular orange and have more of a citrus smell to them. You just need one on each side of a door way according to those around here that swear by them. I couldn't see that they did any good.
So you put them inside not outside of your house. If these hedge apples are Osage oranges, they are poisonous.
I found this article and found it very informative from University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension in Lancaster County
Facts and Myths of Hedge Apples
by Dr. Barbara Ogg, Extension Educator
This article appeared in the October 2001 NEBLINE Newsletter
hedge apples - the fruit from the Osage-orange tree -
The belief about the use of hedge apples for insect control is widespread and persistent. it is claimed that placing hedge apples around the foundation or inside the basement will repel or control insects. A few years ago, Iowa State University toxicologists extracted compounds from hedge apples. When concentrated, these compounds were found to repel insects.
Scientists also found that natural concentrations of these compounds in the fruit were too low to be an effective repellent. So, don't be fooled into spending much to use hedge apples as an insect repellent.
If you decide to pick hedge apples to check out the repellency yourself or to use the fruit as a fall decoration, it would be wise to wear gloves. The milky juice present in the stems and fruit of the Osage-orange can irritate the skin.
My house was built shortly after the Civil War and I have lived in my house in Montgomery County, Maryland for 30 years. I have always wondered why we don't have a gnat or mosquito problem here. Gnats are swarming all over the county - they are everywhere - but for some reason they don't bother us here in our yard. I thought it was perhaps because we lived in a valley and they don't like the way the cold air settles here every night so they migrate to higher ground. But now I have to wonder whether it's because of the Osage orange trees!
We have about a dozen full sized Osage Orange trees that run along the west side of our property. I have to wonder why in the world somebody would deliberately plant so many of such an ugly scrawny tree. The trees are not particularly pretty, and the fruit that drops every fall seems to have no use other than being a nuisance. But now I have to wonder whether the previous owners of this property some 100 years ago, or more, wisely planted these trees to solve the insect problem?
Searching the internet tells me it's a myth. I wonder if these people who say it's a myth have ever had an Osage Orange tree in their yard?
I have been researching this topic myself recently, and there may be another reason for the trees on your property. Apparently, before the invention of barbed wire, it was common for these trees to be planted close together in rows to act as fencing for livestock. Essentially, it was barbed wire before barbed wire was invented! If your trees are planted close enough to be an effective fence, that's probably the reason. But who knows? Maybe they were planted there to ward off insect swarms from that direction. I'm in Garland County Arkansas have been trying to find a decent insect repellent. When I lived in Montgomery County Arkansas ( part of the area to which these trees are native) I also noticed a low concentration of annoying insects. I'm strongly considering heading out to the old property and asking the new owners if I can dig up a few of the young trees!
I don't think it's an old wives tale. We gather several "apples" from a neighbor and place them around the exterior of our house and have no problems. We were a little late getting them this year and the black wolf spiders and stink bugs were horrible. Now, no bugs.
My house was built shortly after the Civil War and I have lived in my house in Montgomery County, Maryland for 30 years. I have always wondered why we don't have a gnat or mosquito problem here. Gnats are swarming all over the county - they are everywhere - but for some reason they don't bother us here in our yard. I thought it was perhaps because we lived in a valley and they don't like the way the cold air settles here every night so they migrate to higher ground. But now I have to wonder whether it's because of the Osage orange trees!
We have about a dozen full sized Osage Orange trees that run along the west side of our property. I have to wonder why in the world somebody would deliberately plant so many of such an ugly scrawny tree. The trees are not particularly pretty, and the fruit that drops every fall seems to have no use other than being a nuisance. But now I have to wonder whether the previous owners of this property some 100 years ago, or more, wisely planted these trees to solve the insect problem?
Searching the internet tells me it's a myth. I wonder if these people who say it's a myth have ever had an Osage Orange tree in their yard?
Your comment says to get "crab"apples and place in basement don't you mean"hedge" apples?
Will this repel fleas?
Don't mistake hedge apples for crabapples. Hedge apples are the size of a softball. Crabapples are the size of a golf ball and will rot and actually attract ants and fruit flies.
I think you must be talking about hedge apples, not crab apples. Crab apples make good jelly but I've never known them to repel and insect!
A house we bought had these all over the basement. I asked about them because they looked gross all brown & dried up. We were told to leave them to prevent mice, spiders etc.
We were infested with mice & spiders! I tossed the hedge apples and got rid of all the mice and spiders a different way!
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