Is home depot pressure treated lumber safe for vegetable gardens

Q:

I am considering using some 2x6 inch material for a small raised bed for strawberries. My first thought was to consider pressure treated lumber, but I have read conflicting articles on the the safety of this product, with the chemicals possibly reaching the plants. Others claim this doesn't happen and the lumber is safe. I would appreciate your opinion on this matter.

A:

The safety of pressure treated lumber for raised bed gardens has been examined by several researchers.

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. However, I haven't seen any research that suggests the level of the chemicals is significant enough to be of concern for human health.

Of course, the primary concern with using pressure treated wood in raised-bed gardens has been with the arsenic in CCA- (chromated copper arsenate) treated wood. This publication from Pennsylvania State University does a good job describing the risks of using both CCA-treated wood as well as ACQ-treated wood: Environmental Soil Issues: Garden Use of Treated Lumber. With regards to CCA, they state, "Although the plant and human health risks from garden uses of CCA-treated lumber appear to be extremely small, there are steps gardeners can take to further reduce any such risks."

One of the steps they recommend is to use wood treated with ACQ - "This is an alternative wood-treatment chemical that contains no arsenic, chromium, or any other chemical considered toxic by the EPA."

If you are shopping for treated lumber nowadays, I don't think you'll find CCA-treated material in the home centers anyway since its use was restricted by the EPA in 2004. It will be more likely be ACQ or some other chemical.

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Is home depot pressure treated lumber safe for vegetable gardens

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Is home depot pressure treated lumber safe for vegetable gardens

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Can you use pressure treated wood for vegetable garden?

Even though the new pressure-treated woods are considered safe, Wolmanized Outdoor, according to its Web site, does not recommend using pressure-treated wood where the preservatives may become a component of food. Its recommendation is to use an impervious liner between the wood and the soil.

Can you use treated lumber for raised vegetable beds?

A cost-saving alternative to Cedar, treated-wood products work very well when constructing raised bed gardens.

Is Lowe's pressure treated wood safe for gardens?

Yes, the "new" pressure treated wood is safe for use for raised garden frames... with a few precautions! 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.

Is it safe to use pressure treated wood for raised beds?

Modern Pressure-Treated Lumber According to the American Wood Protection Association and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, lumber treated with ACQ is safe for garden use. Its durability and nontoxicity make it among the best woods for raised garden beds.