My contractor said not to use pressure-treated wood for a raised garden bed. I used it anyway.

He told me the chemicals would leach into my veggies, but after 2 years my tomatoes are fine and the bed hasn't rotted at all. My neighbor used regular pine and his fell apart after one rainy season. Who's actually right about this - is it safe or am I just lucky so far?

3 comments

3 Comments

spencer_park261mo ago

Has anyone actually looked at the study from Oregon State on this? @stellaperry is totally right about the buildup thing - I used leftover pressure treated for a planter box and after 5 years my soil had elevated copper levels even though the plants looked normal. Your tomatoes are probably fine now but it's a slow poison situation, not a fast one.

betty_wells1mo ago

Wait, five YEARS of copper buildup and you're just now saying something? That's a long time for that stuff to leach into the dirt where you're growing food. @stellaperry had the right idea about testing for more than just copper - did you ever check for arsenic or chromium after that long? I've heard pressure treated from before 2003 can have some nasty stuff that hangs around way longer than people think. That's not a little bit of copper, that's practically mining your own garden bed.

stellaperry1mo ago

Whoa, hold up - honestly, I think you're kind of missing the bigger picture here. Have you actually tested your soil for heavy metals like arsenic or chromium? The thing is, those chemicals don't just wash off overnight, they build up over years as the wood breaks down. Your tomatoes might look fine, but the risk isn't really about visible damage, it's about long term exposure. Regular pine rotting isn't a sign that pressure treated is safe for food, it just means pine is softwood. I'm not saying you're doomed, but I'd be real curious what your soil test would show after two years.