"Alan Gould" wrote in message
...
In article , anon
writes

The growbag claims to have no chemical additives, but what does that
mean?
If the raw material is creosote treated wood chips, maybe they can get
away
with saying they haven't added any chemicals.
I agree with Stephen Howard that it is most unlikely that B&Q would sell
growbags as organic if they contain creosote treated wood chips, because
creosote is banned for use in organic horticulture.

All substances can have a chemical analysis denoting the elements they
contain, but 'chemical' in the context of organic gardening means
manufactured or processed fertilisers, insecticides, herbicides,
fungicides and the like. Organic growbags should contain none of those.

No dispute that it *shouldn't* contain any of these nasties. Organic salmon
*shouldn't* contain traces of banned green dye.

Things go wrong even with food, and I suspect second order risks (such as
growing materials) get less attention than actual foodstuffs.

I am not sure whether organic actually means anything when applied to
growbags (I know what it ought to mean, but does it?).

I can see the appeal to the manufacturer of using forest by-products (all
the right marketing buzzwords, and, despite using cheaper raw materials, if
you can charge the same price as a normal growbag everyon thinks it is a
bargain).

What I am not sure about is whether any authority looks at an idea like this
to consider whether it is safe to grow vegetables in.