permaculture

[Paul Wheaton <paul@richsoil.com>]

I've been meaning to ask this question here for a while, but keep forgetting 
....

When caring for fruit trees, I grant you that you MUST keep all fruit picked 
up from
under the tree.  

But what about the branches?  

I know that for some confiers, it is wise to cut at certain times of the year 
.... or ...
 perhaps more accurately ....  to NOT cut at certain times of the year, as 
the smell of
the freshly cut cambium attracts the insects that love to feed on the 
standing trees. 
But I think that might all be specific to just a few species of conifer.

So this winter when pruning, I found that if I took an extra moment to cut 
the branches
in to smaller pieces (or to have my son go crazy with the loppers) that the 
remaining
pieces would lay rather flat.  This appeared to help the tree combat the 
grass that wants
to grow under the tree and compete with the tree.  (I try to then lay some 
smothering hay
under the tree and thow down some guild seed with a little soil on top of the 
hay)

Since the branches and twigs are laying flat on the ground, they will 
decompose fairly
quickly and thus, eventually, feed the tree.  A sort of mini-hugelkultur if I 
toss the
hay and soil on top.  

So I can see plenty of up sides of doing this - but I worry about a possible 
downside of
attracting insects that think that this tree is yummy.  

Are my concerns foolish?