Western Red Cedar Vs Eastern White Cedar?

Zap wrote:Hello,

I'm interested in getting opinions about raised bed gardens, specifically whether anyone has any information and/or opinions about building RBG's from cedar and and preferences on choosing Western Red Cedar Vs Eastern White Cedar?

I'm interested in all aspects of the "whys"

Thanks!

plantoid wrote:

Zap wrote:Hello,

I'm interested in getting opinions about raised bed gardens, specifically whether anyone has any information and/or opinions about building RBG's from cedar and and preferences on choosing Western Red Cedar Vs Eastern White Cedar?

I'm interested in all aspects of the "whys"

Thanks!

 I used to have a lot of 30 year old Western red cedar beehives ( 76 of them ) they sat on stands on the ground made of the same wood . The feet of the stands was well weathered but serviceable on most of them . The wood was not treated with a preservative .
,
The oldest white cedar wood hives ( 24 of them ) I had were around 16 years old & ready for the bonfire , stands lasted seven or so years before having to be burnt as they had rotted away on the legs at ground contact  in almost every case & that was with them being treated with a bee friendly wood preservative .

 I have seen many a 25 year old glasshouse made on WRC wood frame work untreated from the date the were made .

White  Pine on the other hand was at the end of it's life by year 12 or so , again the wood was treated with an undercoated and a gloss paint top coat before the glazing was added .

plantoid wrote:I was told those non WRC  hives were White Cedar .


Untreated pine wouldn't have lasted much past seven years as the wood's  cells do not contain any sensible amounts of resins and they are quite open form/spongy .