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Re: "Ceder" root
> Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 17:22:37 -0400 (EDT)
> From: "Richard J. Sexton" <richard at aquaria_net>
>
> The stuff used to line ceder chests and make the little thingies you
> put in drawers for the Ceder smell is nor grown in North America.
No, a lot of it is "red cedar" aka "eastern red cedar" aka Juniperus
virginiana. It's native to much of the eastern US. It's found in
Ontario too, although the northerly limit here is not far from the
shore of Lake Ontario. So if you don't have any on your lot, Richard,
just drive south a few dozen kilometers. Lots of it in abandoned fields
along the 401. The purple-red heartwood is characteristic of this species.
'Cedar' is colloquial English for a lot of unrelated coniferous trees
that are not obviously pines, spruces or firs, which have aromatic wood.
The trees make this stuff to kill insects and fungi, and all these trees
have a reputation for resisting rot even when wet. Those cedar rail fences
in your area, Richard, are arborvitae, Thuja occidentalis, aka white cedar,
and there are plenty of split rails out there that are over 100 years old.
It's reasonable to be cautious of wood that is impregnated with fungicides
and insecticides, especially when we are all talking about different,
unrelated species.
> > Richard, can you define this seasoning process that you use?
>
> Stuff natuarally seasoned doesnt need it. If I recall, the passage
> I saw said to just leave it in the sun for a year; expose it to the
> elements. I've used freshly dug up root after sticking it in
> a bucket of bleach for a couple of months. It still got fuzzy,
> but I'd scrape it off when I didn't lke it - usually every 4 months
> or so.
The fuzz is fungi growing on nutrients in the wood. Plecos will eat it
with enthusiasm.
> After a couple of years it stops doing it.
Eventually the nutrients are used up.