Hugelkultur -- good wood, bad (allelopathic) wood

Fungus is one of the main decay elements that nature uses to dispose of dead materials so it would be a great beneficial part of a hugel bed.

The only time to not use such wood is if it is infected with a known disease, such as fire blight, those need to be incinerated to destroy the disease, the left behind ash and or charcoal would be good to use.

Redhawk

So kind of you to respond...thank you...will help me immensely )

Kind of a funny story, only sort of relevant. Near my old family home in Robstown Texas, there was a BBQ trailer on the corner. I don't remember the name but it was definitely owned by a Czechoslovakian. He had piles of mesquite logs behind his trailer, and there was one log of mesquite that for whatever reason decided to put down roots, and a new tree was growing right out of the middle of it. The barbecue guy was terribly proud of it. He put a big wooden sign in the ground next to it, with an arrow pointing down, calling it The Jesus Log.

Indeed, Mesquite, willow, cottonwood, black and honey locust are all trees capable of rooting and sprouting from a bark intact hunk of log.
These trees have enzymes and hormones in their cambium layer that allow a cut piece to form root nodes and buds after it has been removed from the parent root system.
Because of those traits, they can and will produce a new tree when ever possible.
Their inner bark also can be used to create rooting water just by soaking pieces of the cambium layer in water for a few days.

Redhawk

Dale Hodgins wrote:The Fir will rot although it will hog nitrogen for some time.

All wood in hugel beds suck up Nitrogen, then they'll release it back when they start to break down.

I have some half rotten sweet cherry (Prunus avium) wood, as well as hawthorn. Both of these should be fine for hugel beds right?

Hello. I have to cut many dead branches from an oak tree in our yard and would like to incorporate them into hugelkultur beds. The arborist we spoke with said the branches had Hypoxylon Canker fungal disease on them. Does that prevent me from using them in hugelkultur beds?

I am trying to save money on good soil by filling my 15" raised beds half way with organic material.  I have some ficus and some vitex.  I don't want it to harm my potential crops... anyone know?  Information on woods in hugelkultur seems to be very small with the standard answers of the same small list of no no trees...