Diseased wood in a Hugelkultur Bed?

If this has been covered elsewhere I apologize. I'm hoping to create a hugel bed in my yard and am in need of your advice! I have some sick old apple trees I'd like to cut down and use to create a hugel bed. Is this a bad idea? Also a neighbor will be cutting down a huge tree that is dying from Dutch Elm disease. Is it a bad idea to ask for the wood? Thank you!

Fungi will break down the diseased wood very effectively, I think. The only slight danger I can see is if you planned to plant apples or elms in the beds.

Thank you! One more question - at what point can I plant a tree in a hugel bed? Will the bed settling affect a young tree or should I wait a few years?

Unless you want to research the diseases and all possible vectors, I would wait 5-7 years before planting a tree.

identifying and learning about the disease could be faster but if you have the space it could be best to just use the diseased trees for a different family of trees and use another bed for trees of the same family

So vegetables should be fine? I'll just plant trees elsewhere.

i would damn near guarentee it, there MAY be one or two diseases that effect veges and trees, but MOST disease's AT LEAST from MY UNDERSTANDING of it, only affect one plant family or plant type for the most part:)