Stephen Howard wrote:
On Tue, 7 Jun 2005 00:17:11 +0100, "anon" wrote:

I bought some "organic" growbags from a well known DIY chain (I won't name
it, but the sort of place you might buy a BarbeQue). I didn't specifically
want organic, but it was all they had and it was the same price as the
normal bags.

It seems similar to the wood chippings you can buy as a mulch, except that
the growbag is ground a bit finer, and has been rotted down a little bit.

The problem is, like the wood chips, the growbags have a very strong,
characteristic smell, which seems to me like creosote or similar. Now that
may be all well and good for a flower bed mulch, but I don't really fancy
growing tomatoes in it and eating them!

Creosote or oil of wintergreen? You tend to get the latter in composted
bark and twiglets from commercial forestry. The smell is strongest when
the heaps first heat up and start to steam.

Has anyone else used these grow bags, what do you think? You cannot miss the
smell, am I mistaken in thinking it is wood preservative?

I haven't smelt one this year, but my guess is based on living near
forests where the stuff (or something similar is produced).

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've got a couple of these bags - I'm quite happy to say I bought them
at B&Q.
I wasn't that impressed with the quality of the product on sight - as
you say, it looks like so much chipped wood - but I duly wetted the
bags down and planted toms in them, and a week later everything seems
to be fine ( so far ).
As to the preservative query, I noted ( I think ) a HDRA logo on the
bag - or at least an endorsement - so I think it highly unlikely that
there's anything untoward in the contents.

The Henry Doublespeak organisation exists mainly to help the Organic(TM)
industry and supermarkets to fleece the worried well. It is highly
unlikely that there are any bad *synthetic* chemicals in a product that
they endorse, but natural toxins are plentiful in the environment.

I very much doubt they're made with creosoted wood chips...it's not
really the sort of thing you'd want to get near plants.

Creosote would kill most plant roots. Wintergreen or methyl salicylate
in high concentrations will not do them all that much much good either.
You can smell it in pretty low concentrations so it should be OK.

Regards,
Martin Brown