1.3 yards to fill the entire 3’x40’ flower bed. Cedar mulch.
this post was submitted on 06 May 2024
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Western redcedar (Thuja plicata, I'm pretty sure)?
I don't want to be a downer, but if it is you might be in trouble. Redcedar is allelopathic, meaning it contains chemicals that kill other plants. It would make a great suppressive landscape mulch, but a bad garden mulch.
Never heard of that before, website says it’s great for tree and shrub beds.
Got a source for that?
Sure. And thanks for questioning me. It looks like the conventional wisdom may be rooted in something, but likely not allelopathy.
https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/aleopathic-wood-chips.pdf
Sounds like it'll mess with insects, bacteria, and fungus, but it's likely not chemically allelopathic. Also, plant life is certainly repressed near living redcedars, but that's likely due to something else like low light.
Thanks! Thats way better than what I was finding. Maybe it’s more of a thing while’s it’s living and it’s extrapolated down? These are usually buried in some kind of truth in the end.
Most of what I was finding said it can maybe interfere with germination, but as you say, is that low light or maybe something else as well. I quickly read something about acetic acid? But that could be part of the alellopathy as well?
I appreciate the concern though, we all learned something I think atleast!