Lamiot wikimedia commons pressured treated.
Pressure treated wood for garden beds.
Pressure treated lumber is used for fence posts garden beds decking playground equipment and many other structures that are either partially below ground or have significant exposure to the elements.
However while treated lumber will hold up better over time it can also leach harmful chemicals into your soil.
This deep penetration of the preservatives is what keeps the pressure treated wood from rotting longer than lumber treated with a topical sealant.
Pressure treating wood saturates wood under pressure with a chemical preservative.
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.
Gardeners have used pressure treated wood for decades in raised beds and as posts but on december 31 2003 the environmental protection agency epa banned the sale of lumber treated with chromated copper arsenate cca for residential use.
Is pressure treated lumber safe for a garden.
For those who choose not to use pressure treated lumber.
With a few precautions.
Wood that isn t pressure treated tends to rot fairly quickly in contact with the soil.
Concerns have focused on the leaching of arsenic from pressure treated wood.
The safety of pressure treated lumber for raised bed gardens has been examined by several researchers.
Raised vegetable bed with treated wood.
In the 20th century and into the 21st wood was treated by a chemical mix of arsenic chromium and copper.
I feel acq is a good alternative to the older cca.
Image credit if you re like me you ve wished you could use reclaimed pressure treated lumber for a garden bed to grow food in.
Yes the new pressure treated wood is safe for use for raised garden frames.
Over years the industry in cooperation with government recommendations.
Up until 2003 the most common preservative used for pressure treated wood was chromated copper arsenate cca a compound using arsenic as its primary rot protectant.
Here s what i know.
Joe mabel wikimedia commons there is a long standing controversy in the field of organic gardening.
My raised bed vegetable garden beds are all pressure treated lumber now.
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.
Wood that is pressure treated can last many years when in contact with concrete and dirt where other wood would begin to rot.
Yes you can use pressure treated lumber for your raised garden beds homeowners ask if it is safe to use treated lumber for garden vegetable beds.