how do you feel about presser treated wood

sweetgale 6/12/2012, 10:00 pm

please tell me how you feel about presser treated wood for a vegetable garden
Evil or Very Mad

**camprn** 6/12/2012, 10:01 pm

I wouldn't use it for a vegetable garden.

memart1 6/12/2012, 10:09 pm

Years ago the chemical used to make pressure treated lumber was a solution that contained arsenic. No one would want that to leach into their garden. I have heard that newer treatments have been developed, but I don't think I would want to take that chance. I think I will stay with the standard pine. I am going to use 2" x 8" lumber for my next box. The main reason for this is because I want to build a pyramid for strawberries and want four tiers. That would put the top at about 30" high.

sweetgale 6/12/2012, 10:10 pm

ok is it because the wood seeps toxic heavy metals

sweetgale 6/12/2012, 10:15 pm

thank you for telling me that and i hope you injoy your strawberry memart1 i had a friend buy them for me and i now they were pressure treated wood i now it was bad but i didnt releaze how poisonous it is

sweetgale 6/12/2012, 10:18 pm

i did some research on it and it sounds pretty bad

**camprn** 6/12/2012, 10:26 pm

There are a few previous threads about it on the forum. Use the search feature at the bottom of the latest topics list on the left.

januaryX 6/12/2012, 10:44 pm

A lot of information that you'll find on the internet is anecdotal and rhetorical. Find and read the research results from the studies done at universities and government agencies. The results are inconclusive at worst. Have you ever heard of an end user becoming sick or dying from using pressure treated wood?

It's a tough business, and insiders say the switch to different preservatives had more to do with who can make more money.

I would suggest going in the direction to which you are predisposed.

CharlesB 6/12/2012, 11:00 pm

Cheap Douglas Fir lasts plenty long enough for me not to have to worry about buying the pressure treated stuff.

GWN 6/12/2012, 11:42 pm

It is so hard to prove what is toxic and what is not.
It took years and years to prove one of the most obvious cause and effect..... that is that smoking caused cancer.
But then it took another 40 years before the public found out about it because the industry was hiding all the proof.

Cancer has passed heart disease as the leading cause of death and I am sure we all have been affected by cancer in one way or another.
It is increasing in incidence every year.
So there is SOMETHING we are doing wrong, and personally I draw my own conclusions from that. and that is....:
-to not expect to be told when something is causing cancer (because industry has more power than health)
-to just expect something that kills everything that might attempt to kill the wood, might also kill us

so I would agree with Charlesb and use fir and just replace it every 5-6 years

littlejo 6/12/2012, 11:49 pm

Depends are where you are and what you have available. Douglas fir is not available here, as far as I know. I used a treated lumber which is treated with salt, under pressure. If the salt kills the plants (by leaching) then I won't be hurt for I cannot eat the plants. I'm on my 2nd yr. with no problems.

Jo

GWN 6/12/2012, 11:51 pm

I think that treated lumber is treated with MUCH more than salt, it has been banned in some places and the sawdust is considered extremely toxic......

GWN 6/13/2012, 10:04 am

ecology report on treated lumber

This article was written in 2000 and it may have changed but it says that arsenic leaches permanently into an area 6 inches around pressure treated lumber
a more recent article from fine gardening

It sounds like it is the distance away from the treated lumber, this fellow sent samples from garden 3 years after building it with PTL
and the results
The EPA has certain levels of arsenic that are acceptable, but the concern is what happens when it becomes higher than that.
Our well is somewheres down below our yard and yet another consideration for using treated lumber.

**camprn** 6/13/2012, 10:37 am

CharlesB wrote:Cheap Douglas Fir lasts plenty long enough for me not to have to worry about buying the pressure treated stuff.

+1

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