Howdy,
I have read about using mothballs and/or flea collar segments to keep feathers free from bugs. What are your experiences with cedar? I’m not a big fan of the smell of mothballs, and collars won’t “de-funkifize” them.
So I guess my questions are twofold: A. will cedar help prevent infestation?; B. does it have any negative effect on fishing flies made with those feathers?
Thanks!
Hugh
I place a 2" cedar block designed for dresser drawers in each corner of every drawer. From West to east coast and all materials open in desk drawers, I have never had a single problem with bugs or whatnot. I swear by it. Fish have never seemed to mind at all. 
I use a roll top desk for all my tying and supplies. I linedthe drawers with tongue & groove cedar used for lining closets (I had a bunch of scraps leftover from doing my closets), I’ve never had a single bug. Works great!
I’ve used cedar balls for the past 25 years and I’ve never had a problem.
Local moths seem to be less dissuaded by cedar than y’all’s moths. Of course, eastern redcedar trees (actually a juniper) grow rampant around here. Maybe the moths have developed immunity. Everything I have read refers to the essential oil, juniperine, being more of a repellant than an insecticide at naturally occurring levels. (A bottle of steam distilled, filtered oil can be toxic.) I’d go with the flea collars, personally [he typed, setting up hNt, Uncle Jesse, etc… for a stinging riposte 
].
Ed
Cedar can act as a REPELLENT but it will not kill anything (unless you smash it under a cedar plank). The essential volatile oils in the cedar wood are repellent, and they evaporate over time, so Cedar OIL is what you are actually talking about. You need to renew that cedar oil or use new wood from time to time to feel good.
The same pests which eat and destroy fly materials are the ones which can destroy insect collections and other biological specimen collections. Curators of major collections have driven this topic into the ground scientifically many times. One of my other main hobbies is insect collecting, mainly butterflies, moths, and beetles, and I have specimens from all over the world which I have collected. It would be nearly IMPOSSIBLE to go back to all those places at the right times and conditions to collect them again if they were damaged. NO WAY IN HELL would I trust cedar to protect them from dermestids. It has been proven in major research collections that cedar oil is not as effective as other means in protecting against pests.
If you rely on cedar and you have never had pest damage, you have been lucky, not good.
Keep your natural materials in sealed containers with a LITTLE bit of paradichlorobenzene crystals or balls, and you usually won’t have problems and you won’t have an issue with the smell if you don’t like it.
I used to use cedar and cloves to keep the bugs at bay. Not anymore. Bugs got into my JV Hen supply. I washed the feathers with shampoo and dried with a hair dyer. placed in a couple of freezer bags and placed in the freezer. after a couple two/three weeks I rewashed the feathers, dried and placed in new bags along with mothballs. I then placed the bages in plastic containers with mothballs. I will never trust cedar again to safeguard my materials. It smells nice compared to mothballs, but it won’t prevent bugs from getting to your goods.
As was mentioned, the cedar oil in the wood tends to evaporate and you need to refresh it to keep the protection. Rather than use cedar wood, I switched to cedar oil. You can get in from the woodworking magazines and a pint will last for MANY years. I put a cotten ball that I soaked in cedar oil inside an old salt shaker and put this in each plastic container I use for my fly tyin g materials. I add a few drops of cedar oil from time to time to keep it fresh. You can get old salt shakers at almost any Goodwill store of very little money.
Jim Smith
I would not bet against cedar…it works. I can’t stand the smell of flea repellent, and moth crystals smell like Sh:!!. I truly hate taking my materials in-and-out of bags and containers. I have had 2 things ruined by bugs over the years, and both times the bugs only targeted a single hackle. Leading me to believe that those items were the host to begin with. Both times, I removed my hackles…nuked them for 2 minutes each, let them cool, and put them back. No more problems. I am leary of new materials…they are my biggest concern.
Best solution for killing/preventing bugs that I have found this detailed in the following article by the late Al Campbell:
www.flyanglersonline.com/alcampbell/ac020204.php
Since I started using this technique after the article was published eight years ago I have had no bugs.
I got bugs into my stuff that I tried, unsuccessfully, to protect with cedar. Same with cloves. Mothballs smelled to much.
…just read the Al Campbell article about flea collars. Never heard that one. But it sounds right. Al’s articles usually are right on the money.
One other thing no one has mentioned are desiccant packages. Bug eggs need moisture. Else they stay dormant.
I collect the little white packages that come with almost everything these days. My natural materials drawers have been
dry for years. And I haven’t had an infestation in years. I do live in Montana. And it is drier here than most places.
But I used to get bugs. And now I don’t.
I’ll think about flea collars. Not sure I really want it that close to where I spend so much time. The desiccant packages do seem to work for me.
No Pest strips for Conranch Hackle. Al’s told me about them at a Fish In we were attending. I also read his article. I had used the dog flea collars but are a bit expensive. The no pest strips not only repel bugs but also kill them, eggs & all.
Yes, cedar smells good and i personally like it in material drawers but for complete coverage with almost no smell offensive to me, I go with the No Pest Strips. I have a piece in every container of my inventory. I can not afford to send out bugs or eggs to any of my customers. They are about 2" x 6" x 1/4 thick. I cut 6 pieces from each new strip. I loosely wrap them in a piece of serran wrap. One of these placed in the bottom of each tub has kept my inventory free.
The only other way that may be better is far beyond the normal fly tiers desire. It is to fumigate with Formaldehyde or Formalin and potassium manganate. This is mixed in a heated cabinet, high humidity, fumigated for 10 hours. This is the only way I can ship hackle to Australia. I have been certified to fumigate using this very expensive and dangerous method of ridding hackle of bugs. So, I will stick to No Pest Strips. Almost everything else will only give you a false sense of security. They are found in stores such as Lowes, Home Depot, etc.
By the way I do not ship to Australia because of their rules about fumigation.
Denny
I think the secret to any bug repellent is getting an ample dose of the effective chemical. If you had a cedar drawer or cabinet I think it would be inherently bug resistant. I do not know if thowing a chunk of cedar in a container of moth food (hair & feathers) is adequate to keep them away. I remember at National Guard AT each year, the guys who were going to be out in the bush on a regular basic would take flea collars and make a belt and put one around each boot top. This was effective for ticks and chiggers (also known as red bugs in the south.) HD & Lowes has red cedar panels and boards to line closets if you really want to do it right.
This topic has been recycled many times.
1.The aroma of cedar is a repellant, not a killer
2. The napthalene type of moth balls or flakes will kill insects but not destroy their eggs.
4. The paradichlorobenzine type of balls or flakes will also kill the eggs and are recommended.
In any case, your material should be stored in sealed containers like sealable plastic boxes or zip lock baggies.
But also recall that the vapors that you are depending on will eventually dissipate through all plastic containers and must be refreshed. Only glass and metal containers are vapor tight.
No-Pest Strips contain DiChlorVos, which is probably the best commonly available chemical agent to KILL KILL KILL any insect pests. Some folks have reservations about the chemical, or about the potency of it, but it works better than just about anything.