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cedar chips as mulch
- Thread starter lilman
- Start date
lilman
Thanks for the grow report glad last season worked out for you. Cedar chips are fine below is an article on them. The nice thing is you can use them for more than one season if you reuse your holes.
CEDAR CHIPS AS A MULCH?
I have done a little research on Cedar Mulch. The question came up in my ILEAD class a few weeks ago. Someone in the class wanted to know how it stacked up as a mulch. After all, it doesn’t break down too readily. I wasn’t really sure.
As I thought about it over the next few days, I thought, you know, we have a Cedar closet. We put clothes in there that are being stored over the long term. The reason we put it in cedar is because we don’t want moths, etc. to get into them. So, that’s good right?
But look at the other side of that equation. Some bugs are very beneficial. We don’t want to discourage them, do we?
Another thought is that one of the best things about mulch is that it breaks down adding good stuff to the soil. Cedar is used as shingles and siding on houses because it DOESN’T break down. So, what does THAT tell us?
Then some folks have alleged that cedar adds harmful chemicals to the soil. A test has been done testing that theory. It was found that there was NO significant change in the soil chemistry. So throw that thought out.
Anyway, Cedar mulch will look good for a long time, because it LASTS a long time. This is a good AND a bad thing.
It discourages some bugs.
This is a good AND a bad thing.
Chemically it doesn’t change the soil chemistry…including ph. This is a good AND a bad thing.
So there you have it. USE YOUR OWN GOOD JUDGEMENT.
Thanks for the grow report glad last season worked out for you. Cedar chips are fine below is an article on them. The nice thing is you can use them for more than one season if you reuse your holes.
CEDAR CHIPS AS A MULCH?
I have done a little research on Cedar Mulch. The question came up in my ILEAD class a few weeks ago. Someone in the class wanted to know how it stacked up as a mulch. After all, it doesn’t break down too readily. I wasn’t really sure.
As I thought about it over the next few days, I thought, you know, we have a Cedar closet. We put clothes in there that are being stored over the long term. The reason we put it in cedar is because we don’t want moths, etc. to get into them. So, that’s good right?
But look at the other side of that equation. Some bugs are very beneficial. We don’t want to discourage them, do we?
Another thought is that one of the best things about mulch is that it breaks down adding good stuff to the soil. Cedar is used as shingles and siding on houses because it DOESN’T break down. So, what does THAT tell us?
Then some folks have alleged that cedar adds harmful chemicals to the soil. A test has been done testing that theory. It was found that there was NO significant change in the soil chemistry. So throw that thought out.
Anyway, Cedar mulch will look good for a long time, because it LASTS a long time. This is a good AND a bad thing.
It discourages some bugs.
This is a good AND a bad thing.
Chemically it doesn’t change the soil chemistry…including ph. This is a good AND a bad thing.
So there you have it. USE YOUR OWN GOOD JUDGEMENT.
Bob Dobelina
New member
the good, the bad, and the ugly
the good, the bad, and the ugly
Cedar mulch
The good: ph neutral. Lasts twice as long as hardwood. Bugs don't like the smell, so it may help keep mites and aphids at bay.
The bad: It leeches some nitrogen from the top of the soil as it breaks down (only where it is in contact with soil), so if you're top dressing with blood meal or another nitrogen fertilizer you may need to go a bit heavier (easy does it, you can always add more fertilizer later but too much can be disastrous). If you're using predator insects like ladybugs to combat a mite or aphid infestation the scent could repel the good bugs and keep them from doing their job of eating the naughty bug eggs on your plants.
The ugly: Composted cedar bark mulch isn't pretty like fresh cedar, but it's a better choice: less nitrogen leeching, and composted mulch will provide a more hospitable environment for beneficial bacteria and fungus that help your plants build strong roots and help break down organic fertilizers to make them more bio-available to the plants. The exception is repelling insects: fresh cedar has a much stronger cedar smell, so if you're planning on piling some cedar mulch around plants hoping it will repel any little insect vampires, fresh might be the better option.
Folks that discourage it's use on cannabis are probably concerned about the slow breakdown if they are recycling container soil. You wouldn't want a bunch of un-composted wood mulch building up in your soil, it could cause hot spots that could burn your roots. They may also be concerned about the nitrogen leeching for the same reason: the slow breakdown means that if you are recycling your soil, unless you thoroughly remove the cedar mulch before mixing in new amendments and composting you'll end up with material throughout the soil that will leach some nitrogen for the next year or two.
the good, the bad, and the ugly
Cedar mulch
The good: ph neutral. Lasts twice as long as hardwood. Bugs don't like the smell, so it may help keep mites and aphids at bay.
The bad: It leeches some nitrogen from the top of the soil as it breaks down (only where it is in contact with soil), so if you're top dressing with blood meal or another nitrogen fertilizer you may need to go a bit heavier (easy does it, you can always add more fertilizer later but too much can be disastrous). If you're using predator insects like ladybugs to combat a mite or aphid infestation the scent could repel the good bugs and keep them from doing their job of eating the naughty bug eggs on your plants.
The ugly: Composted cedar bark mulch isn't pretty like fresh cedar, but it's a better choice: less nitrogen leeching, and composted mulch will provide a more hospitable environment for beneficial bacteria and fungus that help your plants build strong roots and help break down organic fertilizers to make them more bio-available to the plants. The exception is repelling insects: fresh cedar has a much stronger cedar smell, so if you're planning on piling some cedar mulch around plants hoping it will repel any little insect vampires, fresh might be the better option.
Folks that discourage it's use on cannabis are probably concerned about the slow breakdown if they are recycling container soil. You wouldn't want a bunch of un-composted wood mulch building up in your soil, it could cause hot spots that could burn your roots. They may also be concerned about the nitrogen leeching for the same reason: the slow breakdown means that if you are recycling your soil, unless you thoroughly remove the cedar mulch before mixing in new amendments and composting you'll end up with material throughout the soil that will leach some nitrogen for the next year or two.
