Pressure Treated Wood For Garden Beds Canada

Alkaline copper quaternary compounds acq copper azole ca or micronized copper azole mca.

Pressure treated wood for garden beds canada. 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. Also check out our article on diy garden beds made from scrap wood. Wood that is pressure treated can last many years when in contact with concrete and dirt where other wood would begin to rot. He stated in a bulletin titled treated wood in raised bed gardening scientific evidence and data have shown that using pressure treated wood for raised bed or box gardening is safe to adults and children in terms of the plants grown and used in these containers.

The method uses copper with and an companying biocide to help resist the decay process. Splinters and wood dust can also release chemicals. If you have back problems garden beds can be the perfect solution. 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.

Stay tuned for more great gardening ideas. Modern pressure treated lumber is a safe choice for edging beds in your home vegetable garden. Pressured treated wood sold in the us and canada used to contain chromated copper arsenate cca. The fear was that the arsenic could be absorbed by vegetables and other edible plants and transferred to humans.

But the most crucial one is you can grow a garden even in a contained soil area. Health canada s staying safe around treated wood notes that chemicals leach slowly from the wood at a quantity and rate that depends on several factors including age type of wood used rain rain acidity and the soil that contacts the wood. The safety of pressure treated lumber for raised bed gardens has been examined by several researchers. In the long term this product released arsenic into soil more under certain conditions than others.

You can isolate pressure treated wood by lining the inside of a bed with heavy plastic to prevent leaching of chemicals from the wood into the soil. Our hypothesis today is that pressure treated wood may be harmful if used to build a garden. Lets take a look at both biocides and copper to see if they are potentially harmful in a garden. Images courtesy slma member christopher kollwitz business development and marketing manager for viance.

Planting on raised garden beds brings many benefits compared to planting on the ground. Acq treated lumber is most commonly used residentially.