railroad ties

Here in St. louis, Mo. we are able to get free used railroad ties, I have seen them used as retaining walls, garden edging etc. i have heard you should NOT use them around fruit or vegetable gardens because of the chemicals leaching into the ground. Is this true or false? Has anyone ever used them around a garden and had a good or bad result? thanks everyone! Lisa

Lisa, I think they are free because you can't just throw them in the trash, they have to go to a special waste site. My neighbor has a pile he just pulled out and can't find a way to get rid of them. You aren't supposed to burn them either.

Personally, I wouldn't bring them home.

Also in St. Louis, Cathy

I think the offending chemical on them is called creosote(sp?) friends of ours have picked them up down in south St. Louis somewhere. Does your friend know where to take them, I can find out if you'd like.

Hello
pressure treated wood contains arsenic at least prior to 2004 as I understand it.

PT wood use to have chromium copper arsenate, it doesn't anymore (I think it was phased out earlier than 2004 but I could be wrong). Even with the safer chemicals they use today for PT wood I still wouldn't use it around a vegetable bed, but elsewhere in the garden it's fine. But RR ties aren't made of PT wood, they're made of wood treated with creosote which I personally wouldn't want to use in my garden. Definitely not around a veggie bed or a children's play area, but honestly I wouldn't use it anywhere else in the garden either.

It is a personal choice but I would use PT wood (post 2004) in a veggie bed.

Regarding the railroad ties - if creosote was used as the preservative and you think you will end up using them in your landscape - to hold up a hill or whatever - I would be sure that no people/animal contact is intended to be around them or the soil they reside in. The preservatives used are not safe or predictable. But that being what it is, sometimes folks will make a decision to use (as it seems has been done in your area) so it is better to be as well informed as you can be. IF you do plan on using them, and they need to be cut to size - be aware that inhalation of the particles of dust can cause pulmonary cancer. Ditto burning releases these same carcinogens. Some of the chemicals are also know to cause blood dyscrasias. Different chemicals went into the creosote mixtures for the ties and so there can be different consequences for each component (or a combination of) but all in all if you can avoid using them - you should.

that's all I needed, an educated opinion, thank-you all so much! In our rural area,EVERYONe seems to have rr ties somewhere, the older folks anyway. Usually as retaining walls, but they are used as landscape edging, to hold the gravel on your driveway etc. I will definitly search for an alternative, I have kids, pets and a conscience. Thank-you all again.

needing someone to tell me where to get free railroad ties in St. Louis city

I didn't know this about the railroad ties. I think that's what I have around some of my flower beds. I bought them several years ago at Lowes. Is that what you're talking about?

Besides all the facts stated above. RR ties have a bad odor! That smell stays with them forever, and if someone sits on one, their clothes will get stained with oil too. Yuk! Stay away from using them.

In my previous home I used RR ties to stabilize a sloping bank near a quiet creek and to provide some level tiers I could use to plant flowers. My first source was satisfactory, but went out of business, and the ties provided by another supplier rotted badly after a few years. Wouldn't you know, after two days of heavy rain we had a 100 year flood where the creek level rose 10 feet and three ties which I had not spiked in properly floated away down the creek along with my wheelbarrow. (I found two ties later a quarter of a mile downstream!)

Cosmobetty,
I can't see any railroad ties around your flowerbed. What you have looks like landscape timbers, commonly sold at Wal Mart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. They are pressure treated. I used them around my flowerbeds but they have only been down for about three years and are already rotting. Glad I got them at the end of year clearance at Wal Mart for 50 cents each! I will have to replace them but it won't be with more landscape timbers.

You're right. They are landscape timbers.

does anyone know where i could get railroad ties in the charlotte NC area? id prefer to contact the railway company directly and pick 'em up myself--would that be cheaper than through a landscaping place? thank you :)

I would recommend landscape timbers rather than railroad ties--they look similar, but don't have the potential for smell/nasty chemicals that RR ties would. Landscape timbers may be easier to find too--your local Lowes/Home Depot may have them, or else a landscape supply company should have them as well.

The RR ties are no longer available in St. Louis.

You're better off with landscape timbers anyway from a safety standpoint--that may be why they stopped offering the RR ties.

Railroads are now using precast concrete cross ties. They have a much longer service life which saves the RR money in the long run.

well If I was planing a trip up that way i would take every cross tie in the area that was in good shape folks in Tenn. use them for every thing from fence post, driveway lines, retaining walls, flower beds and whatever else they can think of . by the time the R&R pulls them from the tracks and replaces them their is not much that seaps from the wood and their is not much that will eat it either.

I have been useing RR ties to line my flower beds and line my driveway for years. They are old and do NOT smell and have never stained my clothing, I sit on them to weed the beds all the time!!

Agree with Sarge and Poly. By the time the RR replaces the ties they have been sitting so long that most of the creosote has dissipated from them. I use them for retaining walls and raised beds and so far have had no regrets whatsoever.

Doug

I too have used RR ties for flower beds. Years ago the RR workers would leave them along side the RR tracks of which anyone could take what they wanted. Now I don't think that is done any longer.
My RR ties were old when I got them, not in excellent condition, did not smell or kill my plants. As years went by they did begin to rot in places that stayed damp. My husband found termites under one of them so they had to go. By then I was glad to upgrade by flower beds. They served their purpose and I don't regret having them for years.