Is it True... (Using Cedar Posts in the Garden)

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that one cannot use Cedar posts in the garden to use for staking up tomatoes and such? I have gobs of Cedar that I have been slowly chopping down to make room for other trees and I would like to use the branches and such to stake up tomotoes and cukes and squash. My neighbor came by and said not to do that, for nothing grows and will ruin my container plants if I stake them with cedar. Anyone believe this or know it for a fact to be true. I don't want to buy stakes when these will do the trick? Dee

-- Dee (drebai@yahoo.com), June 02, 2001

Answers

Response to Is it True...

dont know why not,, there are tons of stuff growing around my cedar posts and such. The only reasoning I can think of ,, the cedar rescricts the microbes that attack it,, maybe he thinks it would kill the soil as well. By his way of thinking,, nothing should be growing in and around cedar trees

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), June 02, 2001.

Response to Is it True...

That's so strange! I have cedar planter boxes and my flowers are growing very well. My husbands uncles have cedar post for their grape vines, blackberry trellis and they both have made trellis' for the running rosebushes! They just cut them and wired them together. I am interested in knowing if there is a reason for his thinking.

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), June 02, 2001.

Response to Is it True...

It is *black walnut* that should not be planted nor used near a garden. It stunts many garden plants, and actually kills quite a few.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), June 02, 2001.

Response to Is it True...

Your neighbor probably was told or heard that because cedar trees like to grow in high acidity soil some people assume that posts or sticks, etc. would leach that acid out in the ground and such. It does happen out of newly cut posts but not to the extent of doing much harm, because most soils buffer the affect. In other words,No Problem

-- TomK (tjk@cac.net), June 02, 2001.

Cedar doesn't rot like other woods because it has a high amount of natural toxin in it. I'm not sure what the toxin is, but I've heard this from several sources.

Most hardwoods are okay (black walnut being the exception). Pine is bad because it contains tanins, although it isn't as bad as cedar.

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), June 03, 2001.



I've only been told that the sawdust / chips from the types of wood listed are harmful, not stakes, poles, boards etc. (with out the bark)

-- Thumper (slrldr@aol.com), June 03, 2001.

The "natural herbicide" is still there no matter if it is posts or chips. It will be more potent in chips. This is why composts made with wood chips that contain these natural toxins have so much un- composted wood chips!

I think a fence post made with this stuff would be good for longevity, and I would let some grass grow there, but I wouldn't try to plant edibles next to it.

Many people do it anyway and they aren't dead yet! :)

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), June 06, 2001.


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