I know it's not recommended to use fresh railroad ties or landscape timbers in the vegetable garden due to the chemicals leaching into the soil . Question is : how long before they're safe to use ? I have a lot of them over 15 years old . Think they'd be safe for raised veggie beds ?

The creosote will stay in those railroad ties forever. I'd recommend finding something else to use.

agreed...use'm for corner posts n ur fenceline...NOT the garden

Yeah , I've had the railroad ties bordering the flower beds at least 15-20 years and they still look new . What about the 8' pressure-treated landscape timbers ?

If the landscape timbers are 15 yrs old then they are the old arsenic type. I wouldn't use them. I'm not aware that any plants take in creosote. It's more of a direct risk to people through contact exposure.

Thanks .

I don't use press txd but, I have used rr ties for yrs. Like the thickness. We have all raised beds in garden. It has worked well without obvious damage to plants or compost. I heard Gardenville in San Antonio has synthetic rr ties although have not verified.

I have railroad ties bordering the vegetable garden on two sides, been that way for 20 years and we don't have any soil or crop issues

I was given 6 railroad ties from a track rebuild. No telling how old they were.
I made a 8x16 border and filled it with cheap potting soil. I bought ten packets
of flower seed (just closed my eyes and picked at random. I emptied all the seeds
into two cereal bowls and had my girls (8&10) just sprinkle the seeds at random
in the soil.
Believe it or not that was the best flower garden I ever made. We had blooming
flowers Christmas that year ('82 I think).
That Spring I transplanted 150 strawberry plants but never got to see if they
grew or not.

Had a pile of rail road timbers on our ranch over 100 yards long, taller than our travel trailer and 20 or so foot wide. A grass fire came through and burned them all up. The next year we planted a food plot on that spot and it grew like crazy! Maybe our deer are gonna get cancer?

Same here. If the area is big enough, it won't matter.

you can use both and no problem with leaching, creosote is made from pine tar.

The two main types in industrial production are wood-tar creosote and coal-tar creosote. The coal-tar variety, having stronger and more toxic properties, has chiefly been used as a preservative for wood, while the wood-tar variety has been used for meat preservation, wood treatment, and for medicinal purposes as an expectorant, antiseptic, astringent, anaesthetic, and laxative, though these have mostly been replaced by newer medicines.

Where can you find RR ties? I need a few.

84 Lumber in Denton used to carry them. It's out past Ben E. Keith west of the 35 split.

McCoys, if you have one in your area.