Cedar trees for poles?

[Rio_Grande]

Ll of our electric coops have gone to recycling their telephone poles and 4x6 treated are kind of expensive. I am wondering if I could use cedar trees for the legs of our elevated stands. They are on hillsides so the tallest would be 10 feet with 3 feet in the ground so about 7 feet out of the ground. We have trees that are 8-10 inches diameter, over the 10 feet they loose about 2 inches of diameter due to taper. Would these work? How long would I need to season them before planting them?

 

[sixdogs]

From my experience with Northern White Cedar in Maine, I would say the ph of your soil is an important consideration. In Maine, a cedar post would last seven years and that's all. In Ohio's high ph they seem to last a lot longer. You can extend the life of the post by wrapping tar paper around the post where it contacts the surface of the soil. That's where they rot.

 

[smstonypoint]

Eastern red cedar poles hold up well in my neck of the woods (the Carolinas). Two were used to extend an electrical line to a barn on my farm. I am guessing that they had been in the ground more than 50 years when I pulled them out several years ago. They showed minimal signs of decay.

Steve

 

[farmer2009]

Around here we don't treat them or wrap them at all. In about two years you have to go back and tighten them as the white will rot out. Then your grandson will need to tighten them back up when he is your age and his grandson will need to replace them.

Ok maybe a little exaggerated. But they should atleast last a couple if generations. My grandfather showed me a fence built by his dad when he was about ten. It needed tightening and straightening. But post were still good. Just get as much red in them as you can.

 

[Rio_Grande]

These are red cedar, I am in Indiana. They do great for fence posts. My only concern using them for poles is that they seem brittle when we have cleared thickets of them I have broken them off trying to grub them out. Compared to pines that we just cut off at ground level because there ain't no grubbing them out with our equipment. We will try it. I have 3 big cedars that need to come out when I fix a switch back in the road. They are in the 12 inch range, I was thinking about having them cut into boards for our cabin. Might be better off using them for poles.

 

[Oliver1655]

If you have Osage Orange/hedge trees around they would last much longer! Old timers would put a rock on top of the hedge posts. When the rock wears away it is time to replace the post.

 

[Rio_Grande]

Lol we have hedge but we love it for firewood and ours is more like a bush.

 

[oosik]

The original homesteader(1892) used split cedar fence posts for the property line fence on my 80 acres. Where they are on dry land many are still good today. They didn't work well where the fence line went thru wet soils & swampy lands. My soils - at least in the wet areas - are very acid (ph of 4.5 to 5.0) and will dissolve even steel T-posts in 8-10 years.

All my trees here are Ponderosa pine and put directly into the ground - with no treatment what-so-ever - they last 5-8 years. Any type of treatment I've tried will extend their life a little - maybe a year or two - but certainly not worth any great effort.

Commercially treated 4x4 posts last 25+ years. I used treated railroad ties for corner posts and as replacement for T-posts in the wet areas on the fence line and they are still rock solid after 32 years. I would sure give it a try - what do you have to loose? You can always replace those that rot out.

The only problems with RR ties is - cost & weight.

 

[mikim]

I strip & dry eastern red for at least a year before planting....I did that with some fence posts 30+ years ago and they are still there.

 

[Retired Iron Peddler]

Lol we have hedge but we love it for firewood and ours is more like a bush.

If you burn Osage Orange/Bois d'Ark/Horse Apple in a fireplace, you'd better have and use a good fireplace screen!

Bill