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Old 14-04-2009, 02:32 PM posted to triangle.gardens
Wes Dukes Wes Dukes is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2008
Posts: 26
Default Building wooden containers

On 2009-04-07, Richard Evans wrote:
Craig Watts wrote:

Richard Evans wrote:
I'd like to build my own wooden containers for growing vegetables. I
know you can't grow edibles in containers made from pressure treated
lumber, but are there other options?

I suppose I could just use pine and discard it when it rots, but how
about pine painted with exterior stain or other preservative?

How about plywood (non-PT)? Is it safe?



Have you seen the display outside at Logan's. They use
cinder blocks and it is pretty impressive.



I guess I should have qualified my question: I'm not doing raised
beds, I'm building standalone containers to set on my deck. Literally
wooden pots of varying sizes.


You need something rot resistant. Cypress or cedar would be two
choices. Plywood will not work as it will delaminate from moisture.
Marine plywood might be ok, but I think you would have to paint it and
that opens other contamination issues.

One thought might be to use PT lumber and line it with 20 mill pond
plastic. The drain holes would not allow too much chemican to migrate
upwards.

Very large decorative pots might work, but I hate the traditional pots
that taper downward. Something squarish with little taper on the sides
would be best. I see planting pots for tomatos in the garden catalogs,
but they are expensive.

The more I think about it, the more I think the 20 mil plastic with PT
boards is a good option. here is some info I found on PT wood. CCA has
been removed as a preservative and the new ones are "less bad".

http://www.al.com/hg/huntsvilletimes...oll=1#continue

Another option might be the composite decking like Trex and
equivalents. It is expensive but would last much longer so the longer
you use them the cheaper it gets. Could weight the cost diff between 20
mil and composite lumber.

I am late posting so you may have made a decision by now.
--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

is a garbage address.