Can You Repel Spiders Naturally with a Fruit?

Once upon a hike a weird green ball shape was found floating in a stream. It turns out that those little balls were not balls at all, but they were a fruit. The trees those green fruit balls were not far away and the fruit was ripe and had fallen on the ground. Of course some of the strange, looking like brains balls had to be collected.

Someone along the way said that they were a fruit that repels spiders. Others confirmed the fruit repelling spider story. Apparently many people place these ripe green fruit balls around their housed to repel spiders and other insects. You may even find these fruits sold at a flea market or in Amish country.

An all-natural fruit that repels spiders could really come in handy. You may not have arachnophobia (the fear of spiders) but there is something about those really big spiders that are just creepy. It is doubtful that there is a home anywhere that does not have a few spiders and many people do not like those uninvited little guests. It has been suggested by research that you are never much more than six feet away from a spider. Who would not want to get rid of spiders using a simple fruit? If the fruit can repel spiders then there would be less spider bites to itch.

Because there was no field guide present to check out the name of the fruit that had to be found out later. Later on at the computer info was found about this mystery fruit that repels spiders. The strange fruit is named Osage Orange. Even though the fruit looks nothing like an orange when it is ripe it can have an orange scent. The Osage name came from an American Indian tribe of the same name. The scientific name for this fruit is Maclura pomifera and is also known as a horse apple or hedge apple.

Apparently there have been some scientific studies on the fruit to tell if it can repel spiders or other insects. The only really conclusive evidence is that the fruit has some compounds that can repel insects. Some people are convinced that these Osage Oranges will naturally repel spiders and collect more for their homes each year.

Even though there is not any real evidence that the Osage Orange fruit can repel spiders they still are very interesting. The green fruit is interesting enough that it could be set in a bowl as a primitive type decoration. Maybe the green brain fruit could be stacked in a pyramid on your coffee table as a conversation piece. You could cut the fruit open and harvest the seeds (the only edible part) and either eat them or feed them to the squirrels.

Source:
Jim Mason, "Osage Orange" Great Plains Nature Center