Nance Seaborn Kuenz

Adriann Thank you for your dep of agriculture link but I am still confused.

So, we live in the country and I can just dump my compost by trees or cut grass and dump it on a pile pruned vines and trees and leaves are to decompose outside but without turning, not hot or "properly" but I just let it decompose naturally.

Is burying the diseased wood on a pile of logs/dirt and covering it with fresh soil and maybe mulch buried? How much soil on top would mean it has been buried or is it more the idea of putting it in a hole with dirt all around? Like a buried body in the ground?

Thanks
Nance

we live in the countryside south of Calgary. Alberta Canada. Wondering if the black knot trees that we have pruned from the wild chokecherry might be used in a hugelkultur bed?

In one of our ditches we have a pile of trees that the dirt guy pushed there when we built the road some 12 yrs ago. This high mound is neither an eye sore nor a handy planting bed. Other than adding fireweed to the top of it to give it a shot of colour I don't plan on doing anything with it.

I am just thinking that putting the black knot there would be easier and more environmental than hauling it away or burning it. The question is: is it going to make the black knot more prolific and continue to shed the spores or not? Could we just pitch the limbs ontop of the existing pile or do we cover the existing pile and new limbs with dirt? How much dirt needs to go over diseased wood to mitigate any disease?

If I did ever plan to use diseased wood for a hugelkultur that would be planted up with edibles, is it an issue or is it only an issue if it is in the same family like a plum or chokecherry tree re: family black knot?

Thanks for any clarifications.
Nance