Re: [gardeners] Question about pressure treated wood
Margaret Lauterbach (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Thu, 22 Feb 2001 08:11:06 -0700
I've considered that. Straw bales sound reasonable until you actually face
one. The width of one straw bale is about as far as I can reach from a
kneeling or sitting position. Leaves no room for garden soil. What are
"metastudies"? Margaret L
At 09:07 AM 2/22/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Organic Gardening magazine has done a number of metastudies of the
>literature on CCA wood and has recommended strongly that it NOT be used
>for vegetable gardens or for children's play structures. They say arsenic
>DOES leach out into the soil; they also have found that your plants don't
>thrive as well.
>
>I've never used CCA wood for raised beds, so I don't know if plants do
>more poorly; I personally wouldn't take the chance of having my food
>plants so close to arsenic impregnated wood. If you read the handout that
>lumber stores are supposed to give you with the wood (my partner's a
>carpenter, we get these things all the time) they tell you that you
>shouldn't bring the dust into the house, you need to launder clothes
>separately after working with CCA lumber, you need to wear gloves and a
>mask while working with it, you shouldn't eat or drink while working with
>it...frankly, this doesn't sound like something I want near my food.
>
>There are other cheap alternatives, like "plastic" wood for raised
>beds. We're experimenting with using straw bales to build a couple
>of raised beds this year: they may be too high, but we won't have to kneel...
>
>
>Wendy, Indiana zone 5