I have some half wine barrels that were stained with lacquer. I planted fruit trees in them and have had one harvest. 1 whole avacado, one whole nectarine and a load of persimmons, they all tasted great.. This is their second season. I m worried about eating this years harvest. Seems like soil testing is a nightmare, true? just wanna be safe. I know its strange to mention it this late since planting them but Im a newbee to the whole thing.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tlrrider,

I know nothing about any possible leaching from lacquer, but based on this and your other question regarding the staining of redwood, it seems as though this is a particular (and legitimate) concern for the health and safety of you and your family.

I've never had my soil tested but I don't believe it's that complicated. I think you just take a sample to your local agricultural extension site and they do all the work. You would probably have to tell them that you're specifically interested in leachates as opposed to, or in addition to, the PH, nitrogen, etc. content of the soil.

Another option is to ask the same folks if they test fruit for contaminants and leachates, and have some of your container grown fruit tested.

There's another concern that has arisen in the several years for gardening in containers in that landscape products have been imported from China, and that's a broader safety concern because of the repeated incidences of toxic contaminants in food products, which are subject to certain standards of safety.

I'm not sure that gardening products such as containers are subject to any standards, so there's a possibility of contaminants in them as well, especially given the history of this problem in Chinese products.

Do you know the source of the wine barrels?


It might be safer and ease your concerns if you just plant your food plants in the ground.