Homeowners ask if it is safe to use treated lumber for garden beds.
Treated wood for raised garden beds.
How long will untreated wood last in raised beds.
Pressure treated lumber what safety should be telling you before use.
Any wood harvested before 2003 could have been sprayed with cca and might not be a safe choice for your raised bed.
Here s what i know.
Raised vegetable bed with treated wood.
From what i ve seen the consensus is that the chemicals do leach out of the wood into the soil and are uptaken by the plants in very small amounts.
Homeowners ask if it is safe to use treated lumber for garden vegetable beds.
Many new gardeners and even experienced ones turn to treated lumber when sourcing materials for raised beds due to its added protection against moisture and the associated rot and bug damage.
Like most things the more people talk about a particular topic the more the truth gets diluted and the myths and incorrect facts get shared as truths.
You can read more about it below.
I also use some pressure treated wood for various garden structures including large raised beds.
While there is scientific consensus that it is safe to use for garden and vegetable beds the information below explains what chemicals are used in viance ground contact treated wood for residential use and the results of numerous scientific studies.
Joe mabel wikimedia commons there is a long standing controversy in the field of organic gardening.
However while treated lumber will hold up better over time it can also leach harmful chemicals into your soil.
A cedar frame can last up to 10 years but one made of douglas fir may last only.
The safety of pressure treated lumber for raised bed gardens has been examined by several researchers.
However if you are planning on new raised garden beds avoid using old treated wood with cca to prevent this issue.
Treated wood predating 2003 is not recommended for raised bed gardening due to the risk of chemicals being leached into the soil.
Over the years there has been a lot of talk about pressure treated lumber and its use in gardening and specifically for raised beds.
Lamiot wikimedia commons pressured treated.
If you just found out that your raised garden bed was made with arsenic treated wood if rebuilding is not an option know that plants will not absorb arsenic when they have enough phosphorous.
Can pressure treated wood be used as part of an organic vegetable garden.
The durability of untreated wood used for raised beds largely depends on the type of wood used.
Wood that isn t pressure treated tends to rot fairly quickly in contact with the soil.
The wood that people worry about leaching chemicals into the soil is cca chromated copper arsenate pressure treated wood or old railway ties.
Pressure treated wood safety tips the spruce crafts.