Comments on: Using Pressure Treated Lumber in Raised Garden Beds

By: barry cantor

barry cantor — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:49:23 +0000

The Best product We have found For raised beds,To Preserve The Wood In a Non Toxic Way is a Product we Bought From HOME DEPOT Called ECO WOOD TREATMENT, We Use It All The Time.It Also Turns The Wood a nice colour

By: miek

miek — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 08:53:15 +0000

I too am concerned about environmental issues with CCA and even the new stuff. Could it even be worse since it is so new and less tested? I am building a green house with landscape timbers (Which contains less treatment as post)as the uprights, sunk in little concrete with 12 ” high brick and mortar to hold the old windows I have been storing. Which leads me to concern of lead. What do widow designs look like after 1978 and how old are sealed windows and is there simple free test to determine lead? Then there is DDT scare since I live on old tobacco farm land. I also have about a half acre of land surrounded with a picket fence and a deck. Both built around 1997. both are rotted. Plastic sticker on end of lumber is not. Says “50 warranty”. I would assume that would mean that the company should honor this? I emailed company months ago with out reply. Anybody have any thoughts?

By: barry steadman

barry steadman — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:48:38 +0000

We have found the best product to use on a raised garden beds,is called Eco Wood Treatment.it has preservered my raised beds for some time now, we are very happy with the results.its all non toxic,its sold at the sherwin williams store close to us,thanks

By: Mark Lavin

Mark Lavin — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 22:14:56 +0000

Hello, glad to have found this article. I’m doing some research for various projects I’m launching. I work with a lot of reclaimed wood, and so I’m often encountering various species and processes. I’m now going to feel a lot more confident in offering designs built with pressure treated lumber. Do you have any info regarding the safety of plywood? Thanks!

By: Craig Hansen

Craig Hansen — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 02:25:17 +0000

I have been working with a scientist to develop new liquid fertilizers for both soil and hydroponic gardening. He asked me today to check on ptl problems since the planters I made are from ptl. Thank you very much for all the info. I will print this and present it to him tomorrow.

By: Jim Turner

Jim Turner — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 06:13:25 +0000

Thanks all. I run an activity centre for young people . Part of our programme involves growing vegetables potentially in raised beds . this information has been really helpful. Taking all into account [ including cost ] I intend to construct the beds using new PTL .

Jim [ UK ]

PS Does anybody know how the AC2 effects insects ?

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:30:44 +0000

I would like to thank everyone contributing above. In the process of reading questions and comments from everyone posting here, I am far more comfortable building raised beds with PTL and have decided against using plastic to line them given the risks associated with plastic! Happy Gardening all!
I don’t intend to live very long just very well while I live and please remember… stress too can kill! ha ha

By: Kenneth Schweitzer

Kenneth Schweitzer — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 15:49:21 +0000

I’m sorry I didn’t see this posting and discussion sooner. It certainly is a breath of fresh air and makes perfect sense. I’m in the midst of trying to put to good use dismantled 25 year old PTL deck wood that still is in excellent condition. Contemplating raised vegetable beds and compost bins, and some folk have been squawking about the toxins in the wood. I’m a DDS and have dealt with the amalgam toxicity issues for three decades. There is a pretty good parallel here. Thanks for your research.

By: Reid Vegetable Grower in SF

Reid Vegetable Grower in SF — Sun, 22 May 2011 18:07:34 +0000

This has been a very helpful discussion. I just had some planters made, and found out they were built with new pressure treated wood. I was very concerned about the chemicals leaching into the soil, and into the vegetables I’m hoping to grow.

After confirming what type of current PTL was used, I was able to search for the chemicals used: copper and tebuconazole. Copper is used in many common uses, water lines in your home etc. As long as you don’t get too high a dose it’s not going to hurt you, like most minerals. Tebuconazole, I learned is a common fungicide used on food crops.

I called the National Pesticide Information Center, 800-858-7378 http://npic.orst.edu/ingred/ptype/treatwood/cazole.html to get more information on using this type of PTL in growing vegetables. They were very helpful! They said the copper is about 96% of the solution, and the tebuconazole makes up (approximately) the remaining 4%, and is in the lower third for water solubility.

Overall, they said there was no concern in growing vegetables with this type of PTL. However, they said if I was still concerned I could simply line the planters with plastic to prevent the chemicals from leaching into the soil. I am concerned, of course about the chemicals in the plastic…

So using planters made out of new PTL (Copper azole-treated wood, also known as CA-B) is not a concern. I certainly would not use older (or recycled) PTL (CCA) that could contain Arsenic.

By: kat

kat — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:11:11 +0000

What about the composite wood leaching formaldehyde. Is it safe?