My brother talked me out of using pressure treated wood for raised beds and I'm glad he did

Last weekend my brother came over to help build some raised garden beds. I had already bought pressure treated lumber from Lowe's because I figured it would last longer. He stopped me and said dude you don't want that stuff near your vegetables. Told me about how the chemicals can leach into the soil over time. I argued with him for like 20 minutes before I looked it up on my phone. Turns out there's real evidence that the copper and other stuff can get into your food especially with acidic soil. I ended up taking it all back and spending $60 more on cedar instead. Has anyone else changed their mind on materials after someone called them out like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

mason7981mo ago

Man, I was the same way lol. I used to swear by pressure treated wood for everything, thought it was the smarter move for longevity. Then my neighbor set me straight with the same evidence you found. Made me swap to cedar for my beds too. Better safe than sorry with food you're actually gonna eat.

noahclark1mo ago

Yeah I had the exact same wake up call a couple years back when I was building my first raised beds. I had all the lumber picked out, pressure treated, ready to go. Then I did a deep dive online and saw what chemicals they actually soak that stuff in. Swapped last minute to untreated cedar and honestly it was the right call. That wood has held up way better than I expected through rain and snow and everything else. Plus I don't have that nagging worry in the back of my mind every time I pull a carrot out of the ground. What kind of veggies are you gonna plant in yours?

juliawalker1mo ago

one thing nobody seems to mention is that even untreated wood can leach stuff into your soil depending on what kind it is. like cedar is great but some of those tropical hardwoods people use for raised beds can have natural oils that mess with your soil ph or even slow down seed germination. I had a friend who built his beds out of ipe because he thought it would last forever and his tomatoes looked terrible for two seasons before he figured out what was happening. so yeah cedar is a solid choice but its not just about treated vs untreated, you gotta think about what tree the wood actually came from too.