Hugelkultur, termites, and fruit trees.

Hello! I’m new to this forum since hearing about it on the Orchard People podcast.

I thought of building a hugelkultur raised bed (four hugelkultur mounds and fill the center with dirt and plant a fruit tree) to account for soil level rising through the years as I build the soil.

Anyways, my question is: buried logs can attract termites, termites can infect live trees. There are termites in my area, is termites infecting a live tree  that significant of a risk?

If so what can be done to minimize it?

Thank you for your time.

I personally have never had issues with termites in the deadwood or live wood that I've buried in hugel berms. I usually will bury them 3' or so in the ground and I don't think termites thrive in a low(er) oxygen environment like that, but that probably depends on the species. I'd assume that they may thrive in deadwood that is not buried.

The only infestation "issue" that I've had in the past in hugel berms is with ants. Ants communicate thru scent and they do not like mint. They all disappeared within a week after I planted two mint plants on the berm. Looking back on it, I don't think the ants would have caused much harm. If anything, they were helping to aerate the berm. Not sure if that would work on termites though.

Also, regarding the fruit tree, make sure you don't plant it in the middle part of the berm, make sure it's on the shelf (sides) so it can grab on to the native soil. As the berm drops and decomposes, the fruit tree's roots will get damaged if it's positioned in the center/middle. Same thing for shrubs. I nearly lost a gooseberry this year because of this.

Agree with Tyler. I've primarily had issues with invasive fire ants in my mounds, particularly when they are freshly built mounds.

If you Google "termite predators", AI and a lot of pest control companies indicate that ants are a major predator of termites. Couldn't find any scientific literature at a quick glance so verify first.

On that note, I use borax/sugar poison to keep ant populations in my mounds under control. Boron the active ingredient in Borax is, to my knowledge, a beneficial trace mineral for plants so ants eating it and dying within the mounds is probably more helpful than harmful.