Re: coldframe
- Subject: Re: [SG] coldframe
- From: L* K*
- Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 22:14:32 -0700
----- Original Message -----
From: Susan Flewelling <kmm@CADVISION.COM>
To: <shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2001 9:04 PM
Subject: Re: [SG] coldframe
> At 11:56 PM 7/12/2001 EDT, you wrote:
> >In a message dated 7/12/01 10:45:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> >kmm@CADVISION.COM writes:
> >
> ><< Rachel - are you using that cold frame for vegetables?
railroad ties are
> > soaked in cresote to preserve them and it is toxic. >>
> >
> >Pressure treated lumber is soaked in copper sulphate and
arsenic and both are
> >not merely toxic, they are poison to plants and questionable
to use around
> >children.
>
> Thanks for the additional information - I guess i'm still
thinking of
> railroad ties the way they preserved years ago - actually,
before they tore
> the railway system up here in Canada, the ties I was seeing
even 5 years
> ago were creosote treated. They have a very different
appearance from
> pressure treated.
>
Our raised beds of railroad ties are in fact treated with
creosote -- I didn't know any better when we made them. But
after a couple-few years of retarded plant growth, things seem to
be fine now.
and look here:
>The Master Gardeners also tested for creosote in garden soil
near used
>railroad ties; none was detected down to the limits of the
testing
>apparatus (660 parts per billion).
> Reference: Calvin Finch, "Can I Use That Wood? Railroad Ties
and
>Landscape Timbers Are Safe," THE GARDEN GATE, October 1992, 5.
(Lane
>County Extension Service, 950 W. 13th Ave., Eugene, OR 97402.)
I can tell you I am very relieved to have found this: I've been
growing vegetables and herbs in those beds since the earthquake.
Lucy
