Treated Wood – Safety of ACQ

Q: My wife and I were advised to use ACQ treated timbers when considering cedar alternatives for raised vegetable gardens. I would have thought cedar a good choice, but was told that it would deteriorate within a year given direct soil contact. So we purchased the ACQ timbers.
In retrospect, was this a wise choice for my family?
A: I’m not qualified to use the word “safe” but I recently built a bed from YellaWood. The cedar available these days has scant more resistance to rot than pine.
ACQ (alkaline copper quaternary) has not aroused any controversy about its safety yet as far as I know.
This scientific paper details one assessment of toxicity. Scroll down to the very bottom to read their conclusion (emphasis mine).
Human Health Risk Evaluation of ACQ-Treated Wood
Effects of Treated Wood on Wetlands

raised bed built using ACQ lumber
-
Advertisement
-
Follow Walter
-
Advertisement
-
-
January calendar
January is typically the coldest winter month. Still, you can accomplish such garden tasks as sharpening...
Get The Checklist
-
-
-
name that plant
Post your puzzlers and help others with theirs.
Start Here
-
-
Trending Posts
-
1
Crapemyrtle – Which is the Right Way to Prune
-
2
Azalea Lacebug – Control
-
3
Japanese Beetles – Control Options
-
4
Spider Mites – Control
-
5
Huge Grub!
-
1
Crapemyrtle – Which is the Right Way to Prune
-
2
Crapemyrtle Varieties and Cultivars
-
3
Azalea Lacebug – Control
-
4
Dominion – Use for Azalea Lacebug
-
5
Shrub – Pruning Calendar
-
-
Walter’s Bookshelf
Browse and purchase gardening books by Walter Reeves, plus select titles by other authors.
View books -
Popular topics
Soil Spring Summer Seed Winter Fall Flowers Weed Fertilizer Disease Shade Temperature Pine Pots Oak Mulch Pruning Watering Container Maple Compost Herbicide Birds Moisture Tomatoes Azalea Poison Pears Hydrangea Glyphosate Cherry Caterpillar Pests Roundup Irrigation Pre-Emergent Stone Pesticide Dogwood Peach Pine Straw Spider Greenhouse Magnolia Squash Beans Squirrels Poisonous Travel Lemon
-
Trending Posts
-
1
Crapemyrtle – Which is the Right Way to Prune
-
2
Azalea Lacebug – Control
-
3
Japanese Beetles – Control Options
-
4
Spider Mites – Control
-
5
Huge Grub!
-
1
Crapemyrtle – Which is the Right Way to Prune
-
2
Crapemyrtle Varieties and Cultivars
-
3
Azalea Lacebug – Control
-
4
Dominion – Use for Azalea Lacebug
-
5
Shrub – Pruning Calendar
-
-
Advertisement
-
Walter’s Bookshelf
Browse and purchase gardening books by Walter Reeves, plus select titles by other authors.
View books -
Advertisement
-
-
name that plant
Post your puzzlers and help others with theirs.
Start Here
-
-
-
January calendar
January is typically the coldest winter month. Still, you can accomplish such garden tasks as sharpening...
Get The Checklist
-
-
Popular topics
Soil Spring Summer Seed Winter Fall Flowers Weed Fertilizer Disease Shade Temperature Pine Pots Oak Mulch Pruning Watering Container Maple Compost Herbicide Birds Moisture Tomatoes Azalea Poison Pears Hydrangea Glyphosate Cherry Caterpillar Pests Roundup Irrigation Pre-Emergent Stone Pesticide Dogwood Peach Pine Straw Spider Greenhouse Magnolia Squash Beans Squirrels Poisonous Travel Lemon
-
Advertisement
-
Trending Posts
-
1
Crapemyrtle – Which is the Right Way to Prune
-
2
Azalea Lacebug – Control
-
3
Japanese Beetles – Control Options
-
4
Spider Mites – Control
-
5
Huge Grub!
-
1
Crapemyrtle – Which is the Right Way to Prune
-
2
Crapemyrtle Varieties and Cultivars
-
3
Azalea Lacebug – Control
-
4
Dominion – Use for Azalea Lacebug
-
5
Shrub – Pruning Calendar
-
-
Walter’s Bookshelf
Browse and purchase gardening books by Walter Reeves, plus select titles by other authors.
View books -
-
January calendar
January is typically the coldest winter month. Still, you can accomplish such garden tasks as sharpening...
Get The Checklist
-
-
Popular topics
Soil Spring Summer Seed Winter Fall Flowers Weed Fertilizer Disease Shade Temperature Pine Pots Oak Mulch Pruning Watering Container Maple Compost Herbicide Birds Moisture Tomatoes Azalea Poison Pears Hydrangea Glyphosate Cherry Caterpillar Pests Roundup Irrigation Pre-Emergent Stone Pesticide Dogwood Peach Pine Straw Spider Greenhouse Magnolia Squash Beans Squirrels Poisonous Travel Lemon