ari gold

Jen Fulkerson wrote:Last year I used a PVC pipe for a stake for my zucchini. Since it was there I filled it when I watered. I have never had a healthier more productive zucchini.

Whoa! Do tell! Super curious about staking zucchini and also how the stake helped with watering :)

Hi there,

I'm the OP of the treated wood post. Honestly, I was surprised by the response.

Well, not the informative, discussion-based response. The "that was a bad question response".

Maybe it's because I taught MS & HS for 5 years or now teach a little (programming) in my kiddos elementary school but I truly believe there are no bad ("stupid") questions. At least ones that are worded ok (the wording issue has come up on StackOverflow). I had an honest question and researched quite a bit but couldn't find an answer. Maybe my wording was off?

When I called the local store (Jerry's in Springfield, OR) they told me that the pressure treated wood that they carry can be used in garden beds. That it's completely safe to be used next to vegetables. That the anti-fungals and whatnot do no leach into the soil. But when I asked about what happens when the wood <i>eventually</i> degrades, he didn't know.

So I asked a question here.

As per the answers in the thread, there was quite a bit of confusion as to the issues with pressure treated wood.

Would it be so terrible to have a thread called "How bad is glyphosate"? Would it be so bad having a thread explaining specifically why folks don't use it? And, like on StackOverflow, if someone asks the same question, we just close it and point the OP to the already-answered question (maybe suggesting that they research a bit before posting too)?

'cause it sure seems that "we don't ask those kind of questions here" is ... ooof, well I can't imagine someone earnestly asking a question and responding to them like that. And "this thread will self destruct in 24 hours"? Wow! Really? How's that going to stop the next person from asking the same question?

I posted the question because, as I mentioned, I have to reinstall a deer fence. Not only that, I'm downhill on a slope so it has to be pretty high. I'd love to use a steel fence but those posts aren't tall enough -- at least the ones I've seen. Until the fence fell, I'd screwed plain-old 1x2 extenders into the extant treated 4x4s and then ran wire horizontally between those. Maybe there's a supplier of extra tall steel fencing that's also somehow cheap enough and strong enough (at that height)?

<sigh> I thought I asked a good & simply-worded question.

Indeed!

In fact, I got a simple electric chipper (lil less than 2" diameter) sos I can make my own. Or take the neighbors' "waste"

Wow, y'all are fantastic. Thanksthanksthanks!

I wasn't sure how detailed to get but now I'll try to be thorough

We live on 1/3 acre in Eugene, OR so not too much land but the whole "rainforest" bit makes up for it -- we have quite a bit of wood growing. I've been using it for firewood & making small-diameter hugel beds and even froeing some so have "boards" but realized that I could help the soil quite a bit with some chips.

Then one day I realized that I could hopefully use a chipper for leaves and straw.

At first I thought a battery-powered machine wouldn't be strong enough but then we got a used Nissan Leaf (ferocious value btw ) and I was hoping that someone made a real heavy duty electric chipper. Sadly, I think most (all?) battery-powered chippers are low-power chippers.

Still, I was thinking that I'd get an electric chipper because it would do the leaves and straw and small wood and I assume that those make up most of what I'd do. 'was also thinking that I could rent a big chipper if & when I needed one.

Then, since I posted this, a friend put his 8hp Troy Bilt wood chipper with Briggs Stratton motor for $325. Which has gotten me thinking. My gut's telling me that we don't have a ton of room and that I can still rent a biggie so right this sec I'm still thinking about an electric.

Clearly I'll report back as events unfold.

Thanks again!

I'm researching which wood chipper to get and while I'm leaning towards an electric one, I figured I'd better check with some grown ups first

nicely done! keep us posted!

I use wood ash to cover anything stinky: sometimes our own kitchen buckets that have sit for a while or sometimes the bucket I (used to) get from the local bakery.

It pretty much kills the smell on contact