pressure treated wood

I have bought a 4ft x 4ft raised bed on legs (I have back problems). The wood has been pressure treated. What does this mean? and do I need to paint it with anything. I think not. Im sorry if this sounds a stupid question, but I am a single parent and feel Im among friends to guide me

The SFG method does everything possible to maintain an "ORGANIC" rating; because it is best for the environment and the pollinators of the world. That being said I have pressure treated wood for my bed frames sacrificing my "organic" rating. The old treating methods used arsenic to ward off the critters; that poison would leach into the soil and harm you to. The copper biased material they use today some say will still harm you; the manufacturer says it won't.

Since Frenchbean is in England, the rules about pressure treating may be different "over the pond". You really need plantoid to help with this question.

Good point, yolos. I can't even say for certain that they call it 'pressure treated'. Sometimes plantoid's posts become interesting vocabulary lessons!

Thanks for the correction. I guess I showed my American centric ideology. Never thought of the improvements in 'pressure treated' not being a global change.

The great thing about SFG is you can protect your MM and veggies from contamination of the existing environment.

If you have ANY concerns about the wood, line the inside of the frame with food grade plastic. Cut open Mylar bags or "zip lock" baggies, probably even the "cling" wrap that comes on a roll would work. Of course, some of us are "cling" wrap challenged!

Any concern about the existing ground? Build the frame a little higher, place a little clean fill, then line with weed screen, and fill the rest with 6" of MM.

sanderson wrote:The great thing about SFG is you can protect your MM and veggies from contamination of the existing environment.

If you have ANY concerns about the wood, line the inside of the frame with food grade plastic. Cut open Mylar bags or "zip lock" baggies, probably even the "cling" wrap that comes on a roll would work. Of course, some of us are "cling" wrap challenged!

Any concern about the existing ground? Build the frame a little higher, place a little clean fill, then line with weed screen, and fill the rest with 6" of MM.

In my experience, the clear plastic deteriorates rather quickly when exposed to the elements. I have had best luck w/ 6mil black plastic...though I have not researched the potential contaminants of the plastic I have used.
Also, the type of wood can make a big difference...most say untreated cedar wood will last a good 5+yrs. After almost 3yrs, my untreated pine is looking like it will need to be replaced soon.

I know it goes against SFG best practices, but I do like the look of the treated/painted gardens better and hubby has mentioned that my boxes are starting to become an eye sore because they have begun to show signs of deterioration in color. I'm considering painting the outside with a low toxicity paint and hoping the plastic lining will prevent it from leaching into my MM.

I have tabletop (TT) beds. I used treated for the legs only. The box itself is untreated pine. It might not last as long as some other wood, but it was readily available when I built my tables.

You may notice in my pic that I have two smaller boxes that are resting on stacks of brick. You could use bricks or blocks for legs, too. Whatever is handy!

I built mine on TT because I thought that, being on a concrete patio, things might get too hot in the summertime. Also, it's at the perfect height for my two little kids to see what's going on in the garden.

BOOKemdano: Thank you for your picture of your lovely garden. I rather like the box covering your cabbages. Please could you tell me how you made it.

I thought I posted another reply but it looks like it didn't work. So here goes.

As a retired health inspector and lead-based paint in construction inspector, I plan to paint my new boxes with exterior water-based latex paint for homes. The larger boxes are made of 2" x 4" pine and the skinny boxes (one foot deep) are made of 1" x 8" cedar fencing. So happens that my paint is exterior water-based Behr from Home Depot. Of course, I will have to do it in between watering so the wood is dry. Medium blue-green. I'm painting the ancient redwood tables and benches, even the cat's outdoor condo! [sitting on lavendar benches]

Sanderson loving the lilac and the pale blue. I wish here in England, we had a home depot. I think I would be in there all the time

FB
Our pressure treated means ...The wood being put in a sealed chamber and the air pressure reduced ,this boils out the water under vacuum ,after a few hours of being in this state the tank is flooded using the vacuum to draw in the wood preservative which the vacuum in the wood cells also drawns in quite deep to a depth of an inch or so (25 mm ) on all surfaces . It is then pumped out till a slight vacuum occcurs again leaving the least amount of treatment in the wood then the tank is vented to atmospheric pressure leaving the wood almost dry .

A good way of finding if it has been pressure treated like this , is that the cell texture of the wood is much lighter than an untreated plank of the same size , it is usually also weighs a lot less than an untreated plank of the same dimensions .

It passes our exacting health and safety requirements for footways and for flower boxes.
It may well also be classed as OK for holding soil for veg but I've not tried to find out more as I don't use it.

Re the paints ..
Look in " Homebase , B &Q , Wickes , Keyline or any big DIY stores or locate a trade only outlet paint shop out the yellow pages etc
You'll be able to get colours mixed in exterior paint or actually buy off the shelf colours .... ( If you can afford them ) I've not yet found a trade outlet who won't take my money , though some won't let you have a decent discount ( give then your flashing smile )

You might also locate some zany internal acrylic paint colour on " freecycle .co.uk " or " gumtree " etc .

Frenchbean wrote:BOOKemdano: Thank you for your picture of your lovely garden. I rather like the box covering your cabbages. Please could you tell me how you made it.

Thanks! My cabbage and broccolli cage is made from pieces of old baby cribs. Our church's child care center had to buy all new ones because of some silly new standard, and, being a woodworker, I brought them all home. (There's quite a stack out in my shoppe!) Lucky for me, they're all maple!

Anyway, I just crudely screwed some pieces together to form a cube, then stapled some vinyl screen on the inside. The only tricky part was to leave a couple of inches at the bottom. That way, when my MM settles and shrinks a bit throughout the season, I'll still have a barrier between the box and the MM.



(A month ago)


(today!)

I contacted the seller and he says my raised bed on legs :-
The timber we use is pressure treated tanalised timber.
Robust Wooden Raised Bed on legs

for growing vegetables or flowers

ideal for the elderly and those less able to bend to tend to plants

4ft(l) x 4ft(w) x 30inch(h) approx

Timbers are pressure treated for long life and are of smooth finish

post timbers are 95mm in diameter

side timbers are 38mm x 90mm each

bed base consists of pressure treated gravel boards

Im still not sure if its safe for growing vegetables. Now Im scared to use it

internal depth of bed is 20cm

Bookemdano
"My cabbage and broccolli cage is made from pieces of old baby cribs." Guess what I found on my way home from work........... :scratch: part of a cot So I guess if I don't make a trellis out of it I can make a cage for my cabbages.

How do I copy quotes to my post,

Frenchbean wrote:...How do I copy quotes to my post,

If you click the green 'quote' button of the post that you want to quote, it will open a reply text box with the quote in it. If you're quoting a very long post, and will be responding to only a small part of it, you can delete the extraneous content.

I usually use an ellipsis to denote that I deleted content.

Frenchbean wrote:Bookemdano
"My cabbage and broccolli cage is made from pieces of old baby cribs." Guess what I found on my way home from work........... :scratch: part of a cot So I guess if I don't make a trellis out of it I can make a cage for my cabbages.

How do I copy quotes to my post,

FB,
I found this company website giving the following info by putting " is tanalized wood OK for veg beds into google .

Is TANALISED E pressure treated timber safe to use for compost bins and earth retaining structures for organic vegetable beds?


TANALISED E pressure treated timber is suitable for the construction of compost bins and for use as earth retaining structures for organic vegetable beds.
The Soil Association (www.soilassociation.org) states that if the timber used for organic vegetable beds is preservative pre-treated then there are no issues in terms of organic status.
If, however, the wood is treated once the raised bed has been built (brush applied preservative) then this would affect the status of the land.
Please see our Code of Practice and Consumer Information Sheet for more information on the use of TANALISED E pressure treated timber.

Planetoid thank you, thank you, thank you so its safe thank god for that.
I will plant up my first ever SQ Ft garden and post a picky. Please tell me how I get pictures on here

You will find instructions on posting photos and other helpful forum info here.
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/f33-forum

Camprn thank you