Can I make the walls for my compost pile from "green treated" or
"wolmanized" wood. Or would the wood leech dangerous chemicals into
the compost?

I would strongly suggest using untreated wood (cedar, spruce, redwood) or another material, plastic etc, if you are constructing a composter. Most likely you don't want your compost contaminated with arsenic; you can now find non-CCA treated wood on the ma
rket, but even that contains high levels of copper, which you probably don't want leaching into your compost either. Copper is needed by plants in small amounts, but when it builds up in the soil it can cause disease like symptoms in plants; arsenic is tox
ic to humans and stunts the growth of plants, and in CCA it is paired with chromium, which can cause liver damage.

Regards - krnntp

Ignoramus15011 wrote:

Can I make the walls for my compost pile from "green treated" or
"wolmanized" wood. Or would the wood leech dangerous chemicals into
the compost?

Ignoramus15011 wrote:

Can I make the walls for my compost pile from "green treated" or
"wolmanized" wood. Or would the wood leech dangerous chemicals into
the compost?

Conditions around a compost pile are ideal for leaching out much of
the wood preservative into the compost. You really don't want the
toxic metals in compost or the soil as a result.

Beecrofter wrote:
Ignoramus15011 wrote:


Can I make the walls for my compost pile from "green treated" or
"wolmanized" wood. Or would the wood leech dangerous chemicals into
the compost?


Conditions around a compost pile are ideal for leaching out much of
the wood preservative into the compost. You really don't want the
toxic metals in compost or the soil as a result.

This issue is controversial. When I was researching it, I
sought the most independent voices I could find - i.e. not the
organic crowd or the wood industry crowd, but the Extension
departments of major Universities. Many of them have studied
this issue extensively and there are many studies published.

In general, *small* amounts of CCA do leach mostly in the first
few years, after which it trails off to almost nothing. BUT no
studes I visited showed any significant uptake by plants if the
soils are kept PH balanced between 6.0 and 8.0 - which is the
range most plants require anyway. In such soils, the small
amounts of CCA that did leach remained bound to the soil
particles and unavailabe for uptake by plants. Only highly acid
soils showed a tendency for the CCA to become ubound and freely
available for uptake.... and then only for certain plants -
mostly root stocks.

Michael

While I agree that conditions in such an area are ripe for decay, CCA cannot
'leach' out of pressure treated lumber.

Dave

"Beecrofter" wrote in message
om...

Ignoramus15011 wrote:

Can I make the walls for my compost pile from "green treated" or
"wolmanized" wood. Or would the wood leech dangerous chemicals into
the compost?

Conditions around a compost pile are ideal for leaching out much of
the wood preservative into the compost. You really don't want the
toxic metals in compost or the soil as a result.

I've heard "wolmanized" wood is treated with arsenic.

KR wrote in message:

I would strongly suggest using untreated wood (cedar, spruce,
redwood) or another material, plastic etc, if you are constructing a
composter. Most likely you don't want your compost contaminated with
arsenic; you can now find non-CCA treated wood on the market, but even
that contains high levels of copper, which you probably don't want
leaching into your compost either. Copper is needed by plants in small
amounts, but when it builds up in the soil it can cause disease like
symptoms in plants; arsenic is toxic to humans and stunts the growth
of plants, and in CCA it is paired with chromium, which can cause
liver damage.

Regards - krnntp

Ignoramus15011 wrote:

Can I make the walls for my compost pile from "green treated" or
"wolmanized" wood. Or would the wood leech dangerous chemicals into
the compost?

I bought a flexible plastic compost bin at a local "Earth Day" affair five
years ago. The material is about 2mm and quite flexible. It came rolled up
but when you take off the tape, it forms a circle about five feet in
diameter three+ feet tall. There are holes punched along the two short ends
and stainless steel bolts and nuts came with it: just fasten the four little
bolts and you have the circle ready to go. The best part is when you want to
turn the pile: you can simply lift the lift the circle up and set it next to
the file. The pile generally keeps its shape and you just go at it with a
pitch fork and toss the stuff back into the now empty bin.

I don't know where to get this product and haven't really looked much. If
anyone knows a supplier, I would buy another one.

Bill

"Ignoramus15011" wrote in message
...
Can I make the walls for my compost pile from "green treated" or
"wolmanized" wood. Or would the wood leech dangerous chemicals into
the compost?