Straw Bales - Standard Size? Potential Toxins?

Good Morning My New Friends,

A couple of things I want to throw out there... I seem to be seeing a couple of different sizes of Straw..
Lowes had bales that looks HORRIBLE and they were way smaller then the standard 2 X 4 X 2? Is 2 X 4 X 2 a standard? Or am I wrong?

Also, I was warned not to use Pressure Treated Wood to frame my straw bales. I was reminded of all the nasty Arsenic and Toxins used in manufacturing pressure treated lumber. And, if a plant lays onto the frame, or the root system of a plant runs into it, with sunlight and hot tempuratures, all the toxins from the wood could potentially invade the plant. Arsenic is the primary chemical. With all the media about not using plastic containers to heat up food, because of the toxins... this made sense. What are your thoughts?

Lynn

If all the scare about treated wood was real there would be no raised beds anywhere. (Other than those that could afford cedar!) The minute amount of POSSIBLE toxins that could leach into your soil should not be a concern in my opinion. Besides, I think that arsenic is no longer used for a preservative but I could be wrong. As for bale size I think they are around 40-42 inches long. Last year I placed 4 end to end and it came to around 14 feet in length so that would be exactly 42 inches.

Doug

Lynn: lots of info online about the treated lumber -vs- veggies debate.

I'm with Doug; it looks pretty safe.

Doug: how are you feeling? :-)

COLD!

The latest standard pressure treated wood from Lowe's and HD does not have arsenic though the old stuff might still be available elsewhere. And if you use any old recycled PT lumber it probably still has the arsenic. I have some from an old deck I still use but never in contact with soil or plants and I'm very careful about the sawdust. The reason I don't use it in contact with the soil is, years ago, when I used it for raised beds and such, I noticed that even though it was resistant to decay it wasn't totally decay proof. And here in hot wet Florida it did eventually get eaten by decay causing organisms to some extent and did eventually break down. So some of that arsenic was going into the soil and groundwater - and maybe my food.

The latest PT wood doesn't use arsenic, just copper and a very alkaline form of ammonia. Look for "ACQ" on the label. There is a good overview of the change in PT lumber at http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/techline/changes-pressure-treated-wood-for-residential-construction.pdf . If ACQ PT lumber breaks down you only get copper in the soil/groundwater since the ammonia just becomes a fertilizer. So I'm happier to use that for raised beds, containers, and other things like that when I really need it.

But - lately I try to stay with plastic tubs or galvanized wire bins since the new PT wood also breaks down in contact with our constantly damp spoil and I prefer not to risk anything going into the water supply. Then again, there could be stuff in the plastic that migrates into the veggies containers. But you got to stop worrying somewhere...

Campfiredan, There are PTs with a higher level of retention that are treated specifically for ground contact that should be safe for raised beds. If you are interested in using PT for the garden, you made research this aspect a little more and become comfortable with using it.

I have priced PT lumber for ground contact to use for raised beds and found it to be somewhat costly when compared to the cost of 16" cinder blocks (what I use).

For most bed edging I too use the cinder blocks since the soil-rated PT stuff is so expensive (and the plastic lumber is even more so!) and concrete blocks last forever. For containers that I want to elevate to waist level I use the concrete blocks with plain of PT landscape timbers on top to support the bins. If the containers are plastic bins I make sure the drainage holes drain between the timbers so the lumber stay dry and free of dripped dirt (landscape timbers are *not* rated for contact with soil - go figure!). I also use bins made out of 2X4 welded wire mesh lined with landscape fabric. These drain all through the bottom so I loosely drape a piece of cheap plastic construction sheeting from Lowe's over the timbers so the timbers stay dry and clean and there is a valley directing the run through toward the ends of the elevated area. That way I can direct the run-through effluent to a place where something in the soil (a peach tree, banana tree, etc.) will use any left over nutrients. I have one system where I collect the effluent and pump it to another area - but that one is a bit overkill for most areas. Anyhow, that is probably the system I will use whenever I get some hale/straw bale gardens going. Two landscape timbers over two 8X8X16 concrete blocks, a layer of plastic over those timbers with a "channel" draped between them, and the bales on top of the layer of plastic. That should get the bales a bit higher than on the ground and keep the fire ants out of them too (fire ants get into everything here!).

Dan