Crackpothead
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Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2011 4:37 am

Treated wood containers

I have built large grow boxes for my balcony using pressure treated wood. I will line the sides with plastic ground cover material and the bottom with permeable ground cloth so that the soil does not come in contact with the treated wood. I plan to grow veggies such as lettuce, bean, peas and tomatoes in them. I need to put slats of wood at the bottom under the permeable ground cloth to hold everything up.

My question is if I use treated wood under the permeable ground cloth with it leach up through the cloth into the soil?

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rainbowgardener
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Location: TN/GA 7b

Treated wood is really not much of a concern these days. In the past they used to treat wood with arsenic compounds, so you really didn't want to grow veggies in it. That was banned in 2003 and any wood manufactured in the US since then is safe to use.

Crackpothead
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Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2011 4:37 am

Thanks for the reply. I'm in Europe so I hope there are similar regulations here. Even if there is no arsnic, the wood has been treated with something 'nasty' that shouldn't be sprinkled on your breakfast cereal. I'm just wondering if these nasty chemicals will leach up through the permeable ground cloth or does leaching only go down?



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