Western Red Cedar Vs Eastern White Cedar?

Zap 10/4/2016, 1:44 pm

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!

**sanderson** 10/4/2016, 5:37 pm

Hi, Zap. Welcome to the Forum from California! $glad you\'re here$ Did you read our existing threads on Cedar? Just enter in the Search box. It seems the EWC should be less expensive for you than the WRC. I think most of us use the cheapest wood, usually pine or fir, for our beds. All woods will eventually rot and need replacing. Sad

plantoid 10/5/2016, 4:29 pm

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 .

Zap 10/5/2016, 4:39 pm

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 .

Did you mean White "Pine" or "Cedar"? They're not the same thing.

plantoid 10/5/2016, 6:18 pm

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 .

Zap 10/6/2016, 8:28 am

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 .

Your post said "white pine" in one place, so I wanted to verify that you simply misspoke. I wouldn't expect pine to last that long either.

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Western Red Cedar Vs Eastern White Cedar?

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