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6 Ways to Upcycle Dead Trees

By Sheereen Othman | October 13, 2016

There will be a time when your tree fulfills all that it could in its active lifetime: giving shade, wind cover, privacy, food and so much more. But the death of a tree doesn’t mean that it can’t reincarnate for other purposes. Here are 6 ways to bring life back to your dead tree.

Woodchips, Mulch & Firewood

The most obvious—and easiest—use you can get out of your dead tree is to chip it down into woodchips or mulch that can be used to landscape and garden, or split it into firewood. Mulch offers numerous benefits to trees including protection, moisture and appeal. If you don’t own a wood chipper you may be able to rent one from a hardware store. There may be hard work and labor put into splitting and stacking your own firewood, but the satisfaction of cutting it yourself is rewarding.

Read up on the value and importance of mulch here and here.

Wildlife Nesting Site

Many dead trees can stay standing without posing a threat to safety. With the exception of ash trees that become more brittle once they’re dead and risk falling, you can leave your tree standing and let wildlife such as birds and squirrels nestle in it. If you choose to cut the tree down, you can turn the branches into a bee hotel by drilling holes into the sides.

Lumber

If your tree has a valuable sawlog worth milling, you may consider turning it into lumber to use in home projects. By using wood from trees that need to be removed you’re reducing waste and conserving forest resources. Some local mill operators may even bring a portable sawmill directly to your home. Visit your County Extension office or county Conservation District forester for a list of local sawmill operations.

Landscape Design

Dead tree wood doesn’t need to be limited to mulch or woodchips to be used for landscaping. You can find a myriad of ways to use it creatively and add artistic appeal to your property including carving, painting and fencing. Painting medium sized trees are a simple way of adding character and color to your landscape. Consider Glow in the Dark paint for extra fun. If you choose to cut the tree(s) down you can lay the trunks on the side to fence in a garden and maintain a natural appearance to your backyard design. Or leave it as is and carve awesome art out of the wood.  

 Furniture

Most furniture is made of wood, so why not craft your own pieces? Stumps can be used as side tables, coffee tables, benches, coasters and so much more. Hollowing out stumps makes for natural planters and branches are great for shelving.

Tree Path/Walkway

Trade the typical stone pathways in for tree cookies. Tree cookies are thinly crosscut sections of wood laid out in a walkway, generally over mulch or other materials to hold them in place. If you’re worried about the wood rotting, seal them in to retain the wood grain look.  It’s an inexpensive way to pave a path.

Beautiful design garden paths. Paving saw cuts wood oak

If you don’t need the wood and have no interest in upcycling it, you can dispose of your dead tree at a local disposal site.

 

Have you upcycled a dead tree before? Let us know how below!

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  • Sandra Parisi September 15, 2018 at 10:47 am

    Thanks for this article, I live on 5 acres and sadly some of my Oaks have been hit by lightning over the years while the Laurel trees have succumbed to blight in our area and have all died. I cut down one oak ( regretfully now, since I have deemed that area a wild area and left it to the saw grass and therefor the oak could have dropped its branches without danger to people. But I have now decided that I will leave the laurels that die standing. They eventually become the perfect structure for native wild grape vines, I have one that is about twenty five foot tall and covered in grape vine, it looks like a live tree! Imagine the animals and wild life that it continues to support? So unless the tree actually poses a danger, consider the benefits it can continue to provide…

    • Sharon Shepherd September 15, 2019 at 7:37 pm

      Sandra,

      That’s quite fascinating. You can leave the trees standing for grape vines? Do you cut your grape vines back annually?

  • Angela Waterford December 11, 2019 at 8:56 pm

    I believe that dead trees should be removed by professionals immediately from a person’s property before it becomes a hazard to those who live in it. This is my case since the wisteria tree that my grandmother planted three decades ago has finally died, so I was thinking of having it cut down to make sure that it won’t fall on me or my home. Thanks for the idea that I can ask them to split it into firewood so that I can still use the tree and not waste it.

  • Hugo Minchin February 10, 2020 at 6:27 am

    I have enjoyed reading this report about wood chipping services. Really it is more useful and also helpful. I am very glad to go through this kind of informative article. Thanks for sharing a nice blog.