24 Replies to “Home Made”

  1. I saw your cute bird house and wondered about the nails in the tree, so I looked it up on the net:

    Do nails and screws harm trees?

    Q. We have attached bird feeders, birdhouses, electrical conduit and wind chimes to our trees using galvanized deck screws that penetrate into the trunks by 1 to 1 1/2 inches. Some have just two screws; others have up to 10. Does this harm the trees? If so, what else can we use?
    -G.F., Houston

    A. Texas Forest Service’s Mickey Merritt says we should not attach objects to trees with nails, screws or anything that penetrates the outer bark. It can damage the cambium, the area just beneath the bark where cells rapidly divide and increase tree girth. It also can wound the phloem, the cells that carry nutrients from the canopy to the roots; and the xylem, the cells that transport water and nutrients to the canopy.
    Puncture wounds offer easy access to insects and diseases. Vascular plants lack immune systems; when a tree is wounded, a chemical reaction takes place and the tree establishes boundaries around the wound that stop or limit the spread of disease and/or decay. This “compartmentalization,” however, breaks down if the tree is wounded again, as a newly damaged area retriggers the process.
    Depending on the tree’s size, health and species and the spacing of the punctures, Merritt says, 10 holes could cause enough structural and health problems to kill the tree.

    http://www.chron.com/life/gardening/article/Do-nails-and-screws-harm-trees-1793098.php

  2. that’s no longer a bird house. notice the chew marks around the hole? the squirrel thought this house had location, location, location. they liked it and moved in. i think the bird must have lost their house in the sub-prime mess.

Leave a Reply to Wendell A. BrownCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Discover more from Leaf And Twig

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading