"Christopher Hamel" wrote in message
om...
I initially built my raised vegetable garden with treated lumber. I
know, I know... please save your darts; I am already wounded and
require no additional flogging. I read multiple sources that said it
was okay, but in retrospect the only ones I recall that okayed it were
the government and the companies that produce treated lumber.
Everyone else says it's not worth the risk (or much harsher things).

So, that said, my garden has been around about two years. I'm going
to replace the wood borders this weekend (if anyone has a
cost-effective alternative, I'm all ears -- I like the pastic lumber
but can't find anyone that sells it in the Dallas-Fort Worth area),
but my next question is regarding the soil. Is it tainted, or can it
be salvaged? It's good stuff, too.

A local expert here says its possible to 'detox' the soil with
something called NORIT (also mentions something called zeolite), but I
don't know:

1. What that is
2. Where to get it
3. Will that really work, or should I toss the soil along the border
and start anew?

Also, depending on the cost, it may actually be more cost effective to
remove the [potentially] tainted soil and start anew.

I'm really bummed. I've been eating these vegetables for two years...

Thanks,
Chris


Did you have the soil tested? Before worrying about detoxifying it,
test it -- not just for the presence of heavy metals (which may have
already been there, anyhow), but for the concentration of heavy metals.

Pressure-treated lumber is designed to stand up to being buried for
twenty years or more. It isn't going to work in the long term if the
stuff leaches out of it.

The biggest issue I have with the stuff is sawdust. Burning it might
make the heavy metal bioavailable -- not good. Based on this, when I
use the stuff, I cut it as little as possible, and send the sawdust to a
dump (where it can linger for years with old appliances that contain
gallium, arsenic, lead [in solder], and all kinds of other nasties).


Ray