Thread: Treated Pine for Vegetable Garden

Originally Posted by Bleedin Thumb

Shhhhh.............. no one tell HH about the dangers of PVC

I know all about that....Don't wear your PVC pants when fighting a bush fire 'cause if an ember drops inside you gum boots you'll barbecue your assets....

HH.

Well thanks for all the replys people! I am still going to go and use the treated pine but to be on the safe side and for a bit of peace of mind i will do what Happyhammer did and line the back of it with Black plastic good idea!I was also going to stain it will the stain I apply help seal the nasties in the treated pine and stop it from leeching out? Obviously i know overtime it will eventually come out but does anyone else know of a method that might keep it in the wood?

You'd need to totally seal the timber with something impressively waterproof to keep the CCA treatment in.......if it lasted forever then you'd never be forced to replace it!!

Bizarre really, CCA treatment gets you a chunk of timber with a H3 durability rating but you can get that from an untreated chunk of Oz hardwood straight from the sawmill....some can even do H4. And that rating never changes....unlike in treated pine.

Exactly SBD, that's why I don't care much about the CCA debate as its led me to start using good hardwood - its weened me of using treated pine and so less chemicals are entering the environment because of me.

I know that the use of CCA treated pine represents little hazzard to the user but if there are alternatives that have NO hazzards why not use them.

G'day All.
You do realise that even Hardwood will be CCA treated (or other presevative) if it has sapwood on it and is used inground, don't you?

H3 above ground. H4 in-ground.

We used to treat all our hardwood landscaping timber CCA H4.

This is what I have around my gardens 8X2 CCA treated Hardwood.

Mmm..Treated timber.....It doesn't get any better than this.

P.S. I, my wife, our kids, our pets, the native wildlife, the neighbours and their collective kids and pets are all still alive and well and to date, none of us have grown a second head or a sixth finger.

Patty

If I were you, I would take all this unqualified advice for what it is worth! get some useful advice, and don't take me as a marker!

Regards

wouldnt csiro reports be considered qualified advice?

Watches alittle of that sbs show - its decidly disturbing how the 21 st century seems to have become the century where science takes a backseat to remour and inuendo - got cancer, go to a herbalist?/??

Originally Posted by patty

After advice I am building some raised garden beds out of H4 treated pine in one section I am planning putting in a Vegie Patch someone told me you should not use treated pine for Vegie gardens as the chemicals in the pine eventually leech into the soil and are absorbed by the plants is this true or BS I have seen thousands of gardens and vegie patches made using these any thoughts

Read this and then decide.
http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%2...CCA%20wood.pdf

Hi Patty
I used a Cromellin water based bitumen paint. It is black and I think looks rather good. I found that putting it straight on that it sat more on the surface so I watered some down first, like a wash and coated it with that, then put a full coat on top of that. Any chips etc are easily painted over and matches the existing paint. Cromellin seem to have a lot of waterproofing products but depends on your budget. I think a 10lt bitumen was around $60.
Also if you get a bit of arsenic in your soil make sure you don't eat the soil!!! If you smoke, drink aclohol, are in the sun a lot, eat fatty foods or high sugar foods then it probably doesn't matter as you won't be able to tell what gave you the cancer, diabetes etc etc!
Cheers
McBlurter

I personally know Cedric , one of the presenters of 'Is your house killing you' . He lectures at Murdoch Uni. I'll let him know about this thread and see if he can post a response

Originally Posted by glock40sw

G'day All.
You do realise that even Hardwood will be CCA treated (or other presevative) if it has sapwood on it and is used inground, don't you?

Nope......but then since I buy straight from the mill and I know they don't treat the timber in any way (they don't have the facilities) it doesn't matter....

......but I still don't understand why you'd really need CCA treated timber. My new timber house stumps aren't treated (only the soil around them) and the previous ones lasted 80 years without treatment....

Originally Posted by SilentButDeadly

......but I still don't understand why you'd really need CCA treated timber. My new timber house stumps aren't treated (only the soil around them) and the previous ones lasted 80 years without treatment....

That is right. But remember...stumps are under the house. they remain mostly dry. They are not exposed to the elements like fence posts or garden edging.

Now, as a producer of treated timber, we are not allowed under the timber utilisation and marketing act, to sell untreated sapwood bearing hardwood. And we also do not know what the end use of the timber is going to be.
If your local sawmill is selling untreated sapwood on hardwood for external use, they are in breach of the timber utilisation and marketing act. Breaches can cost up to $100,000.

Originally Posted by glock40sw

Now, as a producer of treated timber, we are not allowed under the timber utilisation and marketing act, to sell untreated sapwood bearing hardwood. And we also do not know what the end use of the timber is going to be.
If your local sawmill is selling untreated sapwood on hardwood for external use, they are in breach of the timber utilisation and marketing act. Breaches can cost up to $100,000.

Gidday,

I found that an interesting comment, so I just had a (very) quick look at the Act as I'd not heard it before - I couldn't see the restriction you refer to - are you able to point me to a specific section please?

Cheerio,
sCORCH

G'day sCORCH.

I haven't read the TUMA rules for awhile. But, you can contact Timber Queensland in Brunswick Street in The Valley. They have all the relevant info you would need. Talk to Don White.

The rules for sapwood vary from State to State. But because we sell mainly to QLD, we have to abide by the TUMA for QLD.

So, suseptable sapwood on hardwood is not to be sold untreated.
Treatment required is H3 for above ground and H4 for inground and H1 for dried internal.