Orchard Wood - Pesticides?

[TimW]

For several years now, I have been getting my smoking wood from a local orchard. I'm pretty sure that the apple and peach wood are from that orchard, but he also sells hickory, oak and cherry that I imagine he picks up elsewhere.

The question is this ... should I be concerned about pesticide build-up in this wood?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Regards,

 

[K Kruger]

Not in my opinion, what you read hither and yon notwithstanding. Not many are systemic pesticides. Even those are in the outer layer only. With the wait period growers use, plus the time from then to tree trimming, plus the seasoning time, I wouldn't worry about it. (I'd be more concerned with the residues on the fruit itself than the wood from the tree.)

 

[Dave Russell]

I don't worry about it, either. I think there's just a lot more stuff in the environment to worry about, and this is sort of like worrying about chainsaw oil from cut wood if you ask me. I'm more worried about what's in the tap.

 

[Ken Keating]

My parents farm almonds. Sure, pesticides and weed killers are used, but the amount of residue left on the bark is minimal, so there's nothing to worry about. Briquetts, most likely, contain more chemicals in the binders than what's in the orchard wood.