Wood Preservatives and The Garden
Good gardening requires the use of wood. Posts, stakes, cold frames, sash, seed flats and compost frames are only a few of the garden supplies made almost wholly of wood. When wood is in contact with soil for extended periods of time, it will rot. Even such durable woods as cedar and cypress heartwood have a limited service life. Fortunately it is possible to delay wood decay and thereby double or triple the service life of wooden garden equipment.
Wood is nothing more than the dead body of a tree, and nature is very efficient at eliminating dead material whether it be plant or animal tissue. Wood decay, then, is a natural process resulting from the activity of microscopic plants known as fungi. Certain fungi utilize wood as food, changing it to water and carbon dioxide and returning the mineral nutrients to the soil for use by future generations of plants.
Because wood is extremely important to the welfare of man, he has learned to apply to it certain chemicals which are poisonous to wood decay fungi. These toxic chemicals are designated as fungicides, and when used on wood are often called wood preservatives. One of the fungicides that has proven most effective against soil-inhabiting fungi that decay wood is copper naphthenate. This compound is the basic ingredient of many commercial wood preservatives now available in stores selling farm and garden supplies.
Copper naphthenate, when diluted in a mineral solvent to approximately one per cent metallic content, gives a pleasing green tint to the treated wood. It can be applied easily with a brush as a spray or as a dip.
Thorough covering of the wood is essential; a second coat after the first has dried is well worth-while. For such containers as seed flats, another application at the end of the first season of service will more than pay for the time and materials. Soil should not be added to flats or greenhouse benches until the preservative has dried thoroughly, a matter of approximately 12 hours.
However such items as stakes can be set immediately after treating. Unlike creosote, copper naphthenate will not burn seedlings in closed coldframes or hotbeds. Experience has shown that such sensitive plants as tomatoes can be tied to stakes treated with copper naphthenate without injury to the plants. Wood to which this preservative has been applied can be painted if colored items are desired.
The employment of a suitable wood preservative permits the use of cheap, readily available native woods, an important item in our wood conservation program. Species of wood that have been avoided because they decay quickly, if treated thoroughly with copper naphthenate or some other equally good non-leaching preservative, will give a longer service life than better woods which are untreated.
Try brushing a good wood preservative on your wooden garden equipment this year, and extend its service life for many years.
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