veggie gardens

[bigvictu]

Is the new treated lumber ok to use for raised veggie gardens?

[custom patios]

Pressure-treated lumber is saturated with a fungicide made from the salts of chromium, copper, and arsenic. These three chemical components occur naturally in some soils. The fungicide is applied to the wood under high pressure so that there is little movement of the fungicide out of the wood. However, some leaching is possible. Fortunately, the chemicals that do leach out of the wood become bound to soil particles in all but very acidic soils (pH 4.0 or lower). So even when leaching does occur, the chemicals are not likely to be taken up by a plant’s root system in quantities sufficient to harm plants or people. But who knows, I am sure that under just the right conditions, and with a more sensitive plant, damage may occur

[cgland]

Just stick with Cedar

[GDK]

Just stick with Cedar

Agreed...I just built some quick ones and they do look so much better

[NCSULandscaper]

its hard around here for cedar since it costs up to 6-7 per board foot

[bigvictu]

Yeah cedar is nice but a little expensive for large veggie gardens (well for me it is). I wasn't worried about the plants as much as myself and young daughter. I know that they started to take away all the old treated wood in playgrounds around here due to the arsenic? in them. I thought the new wood didn't include any arsenic. I know many people that used treated 4x4 and such for vegetables in former years before they changed over. I'll have to read a little more thanks for the info.

[danf]

The old lumber was chromated copper arsenic treated. The new lumber is without arsenic- it's designated as "ACQ", but I don't remember what that stands for.

[papercutter]

Copper can build up in the soil if you're using it as a fungicide, and I know people have been worried about that with the new ACQ lumber. I've looked, though, and I can't find ANY research that shows anything leaches out of the new boards. I ended up using a mix of p/t and locally milled white oak for my compost bins after not finding a peer-reviewd reason not to.