treated toxicity

[Harry Goodwin]

I salvaged treated lumber that was was new two years ago & sitting in the weather. Can I and would you use some of the six inch wide stock poison my tomatoes if I used them for raised bed. Thanks, Harry

[Tad Capar]

I would not use PT lumber for raised bed. Isn't the reason you would want to grow your own tomatoes so you can have them "pure", free of any fertilizers and such. I just learn that black locust will outlast the PT lumber, at least that what the guy said that has this small mill and has some of it for sale ($1/ft for 4x4 and$2/ft for 6x6). Of course, you would have to find someone that mills his own logs, but that would be the way to go. At least that is what I'm about to do with my gardens raised bad.

[Joe Chritz]

Here is but one article.... http://www.finegardening.com/design/articles/pressure-treated-wood-in-beds.aspx

Let your google do the walking so to speak. Essentially the amount of inorganic arsenic you would have to eat daily to pose any problem is very very high. Maybe if you used pressure treated lumber dust as mulch.

That article is for CCA treated lumber. As of now I don't think the EPA has listed anything in ACQ lumber as toxic.

You could line the inside walls with plastic anyway since it may help drainage and doesn't hurt anything. Then there should be no worry at all.

Joe

[Kent A Bathurst]

I wouldn't be in the least bit concerned. A very big political + emotional firestorm was raging a few years back on the whole PT-lumber-arsenic-leaching thing. The EPA finessed the issue without ever taking a stand, simply by not reauthorizing it's use when it routine renewal cycle came up. By the time the actual science came out, all major manufacturers and retailers had changed chemicals and put a higher-cost product in general use, and lost in the fine print was: "Oooops. Never mind."

Recognize also that there was a punch line that wasn't sexy enough to get the headlines: CCA treating chemical continues to be authorized for agricultural and industrial uses. Pole barns. PT plywood. CCA is also routinely used for dock pilings, seawalls, etc - and those applications use PT wood products that are produced with 10 - 24 times the concentration of CCA chemical as your standard 2 x 4, and 6 - 15 times the concentration in 4 x 4 fence posts intended for in-ground usage. [The range depends on freshwater v saltwater, exposure v immersion, etc.] Leaching? Puh-lease!!

As far as black locust outlasting PT lumber......well, the heartwood is very decay resistant [sapwood is not], but to say even 100% heartwood would outlast PT lumber is a bit hard for me to believe, in all honesty.

[Harry Goodwin]

thanks for the help. Harry