Aromatic Red Cedar Shavings (Pet Bedding)

[CannaExists]

I happen to have a bag of this stocked away in my basement, would this be useful at all for organic gardening? I tried a quick google search and came to the conclusion that it'd be best to ask my like-minded IC brethren.

Thanks.

 

[guest2012y]

I do know that the reason they use it for pet bedding is because it deters fleas...you probably know that.
I also know they use cedar for fence posts because it decays slowly.....roofing shingles,etc.

 

[Montana]

It's good to use as a mulch, smells good and deters bugs, but avoid mixing it in to the soil, the fungus that decomposes it uses up nitrogen, as a mulch it will get its nitrogen from the air, but mixed in will take it from the soil and turn your plants yellow.

 

[secondtry]

Hello,

Generally hardwood barks and more so shavings are not good to add to media unless they are aged for at least one year, most can be phytotoxic. If mixing barks into media that are not aged, ie., softwoods like pine it's wise to soak the bark in mix of what and hydrolyze fish or high N bat gunao, etc, to lower the carbon to nitrogen ratio Montana was referring to (re: fungi liking higher C:N ratio and bacteria liking lower C:N ratio). A problem with adding amends into media which have a high C:N ratio is they can 'rob' nitrogen from the surrounding media and from fertilizers in drench water. (biochar can do this, that is hwy I suggest soaking it too).

I would hazard to say cedar barks need longer aging than other hardwoods.

@ Montana: about your point of barks getting N from air, AFAIK that doesn't happen to a degree that would effect the bark's C:N to a noticeable degree (e.g., by a few points). Could you please show me where you read this? I would like to see if what I know if wrong. Thanks.


HTH

 

[mad librettist]

Is this true cedar, or western red cedar?

 

[baan]

I had some composted cedar sahvings, they had sat for at least four years, mixed with small amounts of horse manure and household compost (had a ton of worms too). I did have to feed my plants a lot, but it worked well for soil aeration and drainage. The roots grew right through the composted shavings, but this might have been due to the small size of the shavings.

I mixed it right into the soil, along with sand, household compost, perlite, organic ferts, composted manure, all that good stuff. I no longer use this mixture because I ran out of the shavings, but it worked fine when I did use it.

 

[secondtry]

The roots grew right through the composted shavings, but this might have been due to the small size of the shavings.

Your are correct, the roots will penetrate the bark, shavings, and peat too. There are interior pores in bark, shaving and peat which holds water roots can use once they penetrate the substance.

HTH

 

[CannaExists]

I would hazard to say cedar barks need longer aging than other hardwoods.

I don't know if this is "proper aging etiquette" but its been sitting in the plastic bag it was purchased in for over 10 years.

Is this true cedar, or western red cedar?

"Aromatic Red Cedar" is all it says.

 

[JackTheGrower]

I have in my mind that it's a nitrogen robber in soil.

However I assume in controlled composting situations it could be composted.
I use pine shavings in my compost mixes.