Use for Fallen Tree Branch

[NorthWestHobby]

Hi everyone,

I'd love to hear your ideas about this.

Due to a storm this year, the tree in the corner of the garden lost a huge branch. A large chunk of it has been cut for firewood, but there's still around 15ft left and I was wondering, could I leave the rest of it where it is and let nature make use of it.
One thought I had was maybe to drill holes into it for mason bees because I heard that they're very beneficial in gardens and their populations aren't doing too well, but I'm not sure if this is something they'd be interested in.

I'm open to all ideas. Thank you very much.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

My experience with mason bees was that they drilled holes in lime mortar on old cottages, not wood, but Ii am sure there are other bees and flies that would appreciate it. Do you know what sort of tree it is? They decompose at dfferent speeds and in different ways.

 

[Chuck]

A Mason bees habitat is as @Oliver Buckle has stated but they also live in many other places. They are great pollinators and I have made many Mason bee houses. They are solitary bees but they like a house that is ready for a bunch of bees. I have never had more than 5 or 6 in any of the houses I have built. All you have to do is cut that log into sections about 8-10 inch long. Then drill a bunch of 3/8" holes into the end of the piece 6 inches deep and place it 5 or 6 feet off of the ground with the drilled end facing south and wait for them to arrive. Sometimes it is fairly quick and other times it seemed like forever. And there should be a source of mud somewhere fairly close by that they can use for a nest inside of the holes you drilled.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Oh this is perfect! On a sloped ground it can be logged and made a fence to catch the debris as it falls and works down. The outer bark has a lot of sugar and will be devoured first, but the pith will linger while slowly becoming humic material and returning CO2 it used that is now needed for fueling the plants around it. Winged creatures need it higher but the tiny four footed variety will use it a great deal.