I'm wondering about the effects of cedar foliage in a compost pile. I know that the wood and roots are detrimental to some plants because of "thujone"..however, not ferns and some other forest plants. So could I compost the cedar foliage separately and just use it on those appropriate plants, or could I add some (but not a lot) to a regular compost pile?? Anyone with any experience with this?
High levels of thujone in red cedar, Michael F.is correctly referring to true cedars; however, here on the west coast "cedar" is almost always vernacular for "thuja". That being said, I agree with Ron B, it hasn't made a noticeable difference in any compost I've made....chop it up with shears, it will break down faster.
