Myth: "Hedge apples" (Osage orange fruit) or horse chestnuts can be used to repel spiders. Fact: The story that the fruit of the Osage orange tree (also called hedge apple, monkey ball, or spider ball) can repel or ward off spiders turns out to be extremely widespread in Midwestern states, where the trees are common.

Do monkey balls kill spiders?

A week later, noticing a strange smell and still scratching away at bites, I checked in on our little experiment. The monkey balls had done nothing for the spiders. They did, however, start to rot and attract fruit flies, which turned out to be worse than the spiders.

How do hedge balls get rid of spiders?