creosote

20 years ago

Hello! I am in the early stages of landscaping and there are many, many railroad ties used in the piece of property that I recently purchased. It isn't really feasible to remove them (monitarily or otherwise) at the moment, but I wanted to begin to create a native habitat in my yard. I am concerned about the creosote used to preserve the railroad ties leaching into the soil, and having an adverse effect on the wildlife that may end up eating the seeds from any plants/grasses that I plant. I know that I wouldn't plant a vegetable garden in the soil near these ties to feed my family!! I realize that a natural habitat is better than a non-native species garden, and the ties probably shouldn't be a factor, but I don't want to poison any of my wildlife inadvertantly.

Thanks for any help that you can provide!!

Becky

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Comments (2)

ladyslppr
20 years ago
Creosote is nasty stuff, but I don't think there is much chance that it will pass from the railroad ties into the soil then into the plants then into your wildlife. Such a journey might be possible with more volatile compounds, but I think creosote is not a very mobile substance, biologically speaking. Creosote is used because it is long-lived and not very mobile, so it will stay in a railroad tie for a long time. Also, if your railraod ties are old, then any portion of the creosote or other chemicals in the ties that was prone to leaching into the soil has already leached away a long time ago. The chemicals that are left are not mobile, or they'd already be gone.

I have no scientific studies to back me up, but I think you can go ahead and garden and not worry about the creosote in the railroad ties.
froggy
20 years ago
dont sweat it. as long as u are not eating ur prairie...

if u ARE eating ur prairie, do u have a special keyboard to type with those hooves?

froggy
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