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Are you familiar with hedge apples? They’re a bumpy, green, grapefruit sized fruit that grows on the Osage-orange (Maclura pomifera) tree.
While they’re not edible, they’re also not poisonous, but you’re here because you want to know:
Do hedge apples repel spiders?
I put hedge apples all around my house every fall to help repel spiders. I’m not sure there is any scientific proof out there that they help, but they seem to. I’m all for natural bug repellents. Since we have three hedge apple trees on our property I gather a couple bags of them this time of year and drop them around the foundation of our house.
If you don’t have any hedge apples in your area, you can also buy hedge apples. They even have them on Amazon here: hedge apples for sale.
Our house was built in the late 1800’s, so it has many small cracks and places to let the spiders in. Before I put the hedge apples around the foundation we get a ton of big black hairy wolf spiders. Don’t get me wrong, I love spiders, but as long as they’re out in the garden. I hate going into the bathroom, flipping on the lights and seeing a spider run across my foot. Yikes!
I’m a believer in the spider repelling powers of hedge apples. After we put the hedge apples around the foundation, I see very few spiders in the house. I usually remember to gather them because of the number of spiders I see when the weather starts to cool. It always seems like we have a bunch of those big hairy fast moving spiders in our house as soon as we have a frost her in Ohio. That’s when I go gather up the hedge apples and drop them every few feet around the outside of the house. I notice a big difference in the number of spiders once I do, so for me hedge apples repel spiders. They also last well into the winter. They’re also not a harsh chemical and they last long into the winter. I don’t have to replace them until the next year, and mother nature provides me with a new supply every year, for free!
Maybe it’s just a coincidence? I heard they repel insects several years ago, and I’ve gathered up the hedge apples every year since. We have several Osage-orange trees, and it’s great to have my own supply.
If you’re looking for more information on hedge apples check out hedgeapple.com. The site shows how to use hedge apples for decorating, and drying.
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Terry says
December 30, 2010 at 2:39 amThey absolutely DO repel spiders and other bugs. I haven’t had any to put around my house for the past year, and I saw many more spiders and other bugs this year than in the previous years when I’ve had hedge apples tucked away in selected areas of my home.
Ann says
September 11, 2011 at 11:04 pmI know I can buy these at the grocery store in the fall to repel spiders but where can I get them for the other times of the year it seems like we have spiders in the spring and summer as well and frankly I am tired of them.
Linda says
September 28, 2017 at 1:19 amAre the hedge apples safe to have in containers “inside” your home? Will they draws ants as they begin to rot? A friend brought me some tonight at church. She told to put them in small containers and that they are good for 6 months even after they shrink up and rot.
Stephen Williams says
September 29, 2017 at 3:41 pmI am orginally from Illinois and have known about hedge apples from my father-in-law. We would go out every fall and gather them up and sell them at the Farmers Market. We would get $1.00 each. We could never get enough, once people discoved that they really keep out spiders, but not only spiders, but crickets, stink bugs and other insects. I now live in North Carolina and have introduced them to people here. They were scepital at first, but after 4 years of selling them at the local flee market the people now come looking for me every fall. They do work.