Preserving deadwood at and below ground in a forest planting?

[kornfeld]

Hi,

I'm doing a redwood forest planting, and I have an old dead tree that I'd like to incorporate as a burned-out trunk in the scene. I'm good to go with lime sulfur above ground; but I'm not sure if that's the best option for the wood that will be directly contacting the soil, both at and below ground. I've seen people apply superglue to dead wood to reinforce it and (possibly?) preserve it. Perhaps that's an option? I want maximum preservation at and below ground, so I'm open to anything--superglue, epoxy, lime sulfur, etc. I just don't want to introduce anything that'll be harmful to the living components of the forest scene.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Dav4]

My assumption is that any deadwood in contact with soil, regardless of species, will eventually rot and will do so faster than the deadwood above the soil line. Applying various wood harderners (PC-petrifier, minwax, etc) can slow the progress, but they would need to be applied regularly (annually?) to be of any benefit. I have several deadwood trunked RMJs where it's virtually impossible to keep all the deadwood above the soil. With this in mind, I strive to style and plant these trees and trees like them with the existing deadwood above the soil and I never deliberately create any deadwood at the base of a trunk. I'll also routinely pull soil away from the portions of deadwood in contact with the soil in the hopes of keeping it dry.

 

[kornfeld]

My assumption is that any deadwood in contact with soil, regardless of species, will eventually rot and will do so faster than the deadwood above the soil line. Applying various wood harderners (PC-petrifier, minwax, etc) can slow the progress, but they would need to be applied regularly (annually?) to be of any benefit. I have several deadwood trunked RMJs where it's virtually impossible to keep all the deadwood above the soil. With this in mind, I strive to style and plant these trees and trees like them with the existing deadwood above the soil and I never deliberately create any deadwood at the base of a trunk. I'll also routinely pull soil away from the portions of deadwood in contact with the soil in the hopes of keeping it dry.

This is great info, thanks for typing it up. I might try giving the wood below ground an actual coating of epoxy (I used to build boats) and see how that goes.

 

[Tieball]

I’ve thought about a plan like this over the years. I did not move forward. However, related to your question, I planned to replace the unground deadwood every time I root pruned or repotted. I kept a supply of suitable deadwood trunks in a wooden box with just sand. No watering. Just natural rainfall. I planned to use right-sized Arborvitae branches and medium trunks shaped-carved-torn for my use. The Arborvitae seemed to last a long time and with a moss cover it looked exactly like I wanted as the dead tree trunks half ground buried. It also worked well for loose bark that happens to a rotting tree at ground level. In one experiment I was going to soak the fallen trunks in Thompson's water seal commonly used on wood decks…..let them sun dry and then place them in the soil.

 

[Tieball]

I never executed my plan. It did sound good reading it though. I have wondered whether it would work or not as my mind wanders again toward forest building. Interestingly I have Elm and Oak branches half buried in the open ground for all my seasons that seem to last for a very long time. Eventually they break down but it takes awhile.

 

[kornfeld]

Very interesting. If you end up doing it, post the results!