This is one I figure the yanks on here can fill me in on. We ain't got none this far south.

Building bee boxes I like cypress but wonder if larch would be as durable.

Cypress is rot resistant but the good stuff is getting harder to find. The best is the old red heartwood, most today is second growth and while still resistant to a good degree sapwood is soft and somewhat brittle.
I understand that larch is very rot resistant and hard. How does it mill for rabbets and dados?

But it may be to costly, I don't know so fill me in.

It is hard as a rock when dry-you cant drive a nail in it without bending.It is rot resistant in water-a lot of docks and cribbing are made of tamarack(larch).It also warps quite a bit when drying.
Here there are two kinds.One grows straight with hardly any branches(from thick stands}.Others are very branchy and knotty.

The kind that grows in the west is straight grained and very durable. The old growth can be a bit brittle. Its fairly heavy, especially if you get the sap-filled butt section. glues well. Nails can split it fairly easily. I'm sure it would be a fine wood for be boxes. Since the boxes re pained anyway, I'm not sure how much wood durability would be an issue.

I'm going to have to disagree with Boco. I know, big surprise right? LOL

Eastern Larch (Tamarack) is not really hard at all, it is way down the Janka scale at around 600 and is only rated at moderately rot resistant, same as second growth cypress.

Old growth Cypress it rated durable to very durable.

Larch is a bit harder than the cypress you are used to working with but not by much.

My source is the Wood Database.

This isn't on track, but lumber around here is all stamped SPF. You could be getting Spruce, Pine, or Fir. I love the smell of cutting OLD dimension lumber. I don't know what is is but definitely what we get offered today.

Lol. You canadians are soft.

The tamarack here is hard as a rock when dry. It does mill pretty well, though. For fence posts in a swamp they last about forever. In dry, sandy ground they will rot off fairly soon.I wouldn't be afraid to use it for bee boxes.

Hackmatack, Larch or Tamarack, however you want to refer to is my new favorite hard softwood. I've used it for trim on my cabin and love it. It is much denser than spruce, fir or pine and more attractive to my way of thinking. I'm in the process of sourcing some for my floor.

I doubt you will be finding any larch/tamarack stamped SPF, if you do, I believe it is miss-stamped. The SPF category should be "white woods" such as the spruces, some pines, and true firs (of which there are many). Larch and Douglas fir (not really a fir) are lumped together according to Western Wood Products grading rules.

How about Alaska yellow cedar for bee boxes? It is rot resistant, rather dense, and very easy to work with. It is really aromatic though, I don't know if that would be a problem.

Cedar would be a good choice.

The only cedar available here is our native eastern red, actually a juniper, and western red siding and trim.

Eastern red cedar is rated excellent in resistance to both decay and insect damage.

You might as well build your bee boxes out of gold tough, It would probably cost less. LOL

I built some bee boxes years ago. i used white pine because it was cheap and readily available. i painted everything with Behr Solid Color stain (my go-to exterior stain) and attached aluminum flashing to the tops. They have held up well.

Are you planning to leave the boxes natural and untreated/unpainted?

Eastern Red isn't as rot resistant as most think. I've set miles of cedar fence posts. Like most other woods the heartwood is the good stuff and the sapwood rots out fairly quickly. While you can find cedar boards wide enough the heart will be an inch or so wide.

I'm not really looking to build more boxes anytime soon and I'll build them out of whatever I can. I've got plywood, pine and cypress boxes and yes I hate painting. I was taught by an old master cabinet maker and can't bring myself to just slap a coat of latex on a box. If I'm going to paint it's going to be oil prime and topcoat but I'll spend longer sanding and prepping, just as I was taught to do, than actually painting. Hence, I hate painting.

No, I was just seeing what other stuff I might use if I come across it at a decent price.

Pine and ply do well for me as long as it stays sealed. Funny thing is I think so poorly of those the it doesn't bother me to just slap on any old stain or paint without worrying about prep work.

I would forget about larch because shipping costs are going to be higher than product cost and you have plenty of rot resistant wood species locally available. White oak, sassafras and black locust come to mind. Granted, you’re getting into obscure species but still more readily available than larch.

That's exactly what I figured but was just curious.

Granted, if you plan on taking a trip to the glaciated north this summer it would be easy enough to arrange with a small sawmill to have some on hand for you. That would lump the shipping cost into your trip and give you an excuse to get off the beaten path.

That's pretty typical of old masters...back in the day oil was king. Today latex products have come a long long way. Quality makers like Sherwin Williams have exterior latex paint with 40, 50 year and lifetime warranties, with easier substrate requirements than oil. On wood materials, latex is usually preferred these days.

Maybe, but until it's proven to me that bee boxes stacked won't stick together I don't want latex.
That and I like glass like gloss.

Fair enough; it does take most latex awhile to get that hard. There are some impressive water-based enamels now though, and some of them actually cure faster than the oil-based equivalent. Watee-borne polyurethane is one example. Much harder faster and clearer than oil-based.

Does your eastern tamarack needles turn yellow in the fall and drop off, a deciduous conifer? The only "larch" I know about is the tree out of the northern Rockies that does just that...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larix_occidentalis