AusBonsai

I have some treated pine decking boards left over from a job, and wondered if they would be suitable for growing boxes instead of the ugly white foam boxes. I'm just concerned that the chemicals used for treating the timber might leech into the soil and cause harm to the tree.....
I've made wooden pots before from merbau decking, and they look nice but are so damn heavy. Thinking the treated pine might be a much lighter option.

Treated pine is prepared with the use of arsenic. I have some natives in my garden that are planted on top of old treated post buried in the ground and the plants seem to be suffering as a consequence. I might be wrong but I can only imagine it will lead to disappointment. You might be able to line the inside of the boxes to stop the chemicals leaching into you mix.

Steve W wrote:Treated pine is prepared with the use of arsenic. I have some natives in my garden that are planted on top of old treated post buried in the ground and the plants seem to be suffering as a consequence. I might be wrong but I can only imagine it will lead to disappointment. You might be able to line the inside of the boxes to stop the chemicals leaching into you mix.

I had a feeling this would be bad... might stick with the merbau! They do look nice.

Just to be the devils advocate here, I used some off cuts from an old table that was/is destined for the tip, and I haven't had any dramas so far.... The table had been stained and probably treated prior (though it was a big B purchase so perhaps not)

Treated pine is used for garden birders and plants grow fine. You can't eat anything grown near it though because it will pass the arsenic on to you.

Thanks for the info Matt, I'll steer clear of eating my plants Good to know my plants wont die from the box (just me to worry about now). Did you mean Garden Borders? Cause if they used them for Birds then the birds would probably suffer a bit from the arsenic!!

Oops yes I mean borders.