Filed under: Trees, Wildlife | Tags: Box Elder tree, hollow tree, rotten wood, trees, wood
I’ve been cutting wood now for a lot of years, but this cut was really interesting.
Now I’ve seen hollow logs before, but this hollow log was completely filled in with rotten wood. The log itself as a bit over 12 inches in diameter and had less than two inches of good wood on the outside. The log was from a Box Elder tree that was growing near my garage. It was cut down because so many of its branches were dying. This branch was still alive. The rotten middle of this branch was eventually going to kill of the branch. Its only salvation would have been if a squirrel had gone in and cleaned it out. Removal of the wet rotten wood would have helped to slow the rotting process.
Box Elder trees are not the most popular trees in our area. They tend to draw a large number of bugs that like to winter in their easy to dig in wood. They usually have red streaks inside them between the live outer wood and the dead center. If you can find a piece in good condition they do make some interesting projects, but the light wood rots very easily.
