[Community_garden] arsenic wood

[Mike McGrath]

if its old pressure treated ("green") CCA wood, its almost certainly 
leaching arsenic. If its old railroad ties, the chemicals are 'penta' and/or 
creosote. All are nasty.
    You can test the wood itself with a 'wipe' test; and the surrounding 
soil with--duh--a soil test. Your local extension agent should be able to 
point you towards the cheapest testing service (which will probably still be 
fairly expensive), but first ask yourself--what will you do? If the answer 
is a big clean up, compost importation and bed rebuilding , maybe it's time 
to plan that anyway for next season?
                                                ---Mike McG

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eliza Sutton" <lizasutton at yahoo.com>
To: <community_garden at list.communitygarden.org>
Sent: Monday, June 18, 2007 1:23 PM
Subject: [Community_garden] arsenic wood


> Hello,
>  i coordinate community gardens in providence, ri.  my question is:
>  people want to know if the wood that divides the plots has arsenic
>  in it (the wood is many years old, and noone remembers what wood
>  was used.)  Would the thing to do be to test the soil around the wood
>  for arsenic, or is there a way to test the wood itself?
>
>  thanks,
>  liza sutton,
>  community gardens coordinator
>  southside community land trust
>  providence, ri
>
>
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