Wood question!

I have a few chin safe trees and vines on my property, and I know they haven't been treated with any pesticides or fertilizers since I have lived here (about 6 years), but my house is surrounded by farm fields. Would it still be safe to use that wood? Or do I have to worry about run off from whatever the farmers are using?

As long as you aren't harvesting from right around a creek the run off shouldn't be too much of an issue. Also make sure if they spray pesticides and stuff, your woods are out of the chemical cloud's drift zone. I would also be wary of using more than new growth. The older wood could have been sprayed before you moved there and soaked it in. There's some type-i cant bring it to mind right now- that is commonly sprayed for a certain insect and that pesticide sinks in and stays for a very long time. I read it on here in the past... i'll try to search.
I harvest my wood from an area near farms, but there's 18 acres of land and I can be picky about getting stuff uphill and out of the wind/drift zones from farms, plus the land's been owned for 30+ years by my boyfriend's family so we know it's history of not being sprayed.
You're probably safe, but i may be worth double checking with the farms nearby what they use and looking up those chemicals with the EPA site on what critters they effect.

http://chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37976 this is what I was remembering specifically. Basically pesticides are designed to stay in a tree to keep bugs away. I'm not sure if new growth is effected or not, or how long until it has "worn off" enough until it's safe. I would be VERY hesitant to chance it.

The general rule is if the tree has been sprayed EVER it's not safe to use. Even new growth is still getting it's nutrients from up the center of the tree, it's not going to be as potent (that's why people spray trees every year or so for bugs and stuff), but it could still have trace amounts left. If you don't know the whole history of the tree, I'd rather be safe then sorry.

I've always read that if the tree has ever been sprayed then it isn't safe to use.

Thanks for the information. I have heard the rule that you are never supposed to use a tree that has ever been sprayed as well, but I have also heard that it is okay after so many years. My next question is, how do you get a tree that has never ever had any pesticides on it? Even if I were to go to a green house and buy a sapling I'm sure pesticides and fertilizers would have been used on it.

The farmers around me plant soybeans that have pesticides and fertilizers coating the bean before it is even planted, and soybeans are a main ingredient in a lot of commercial chinchilla foods. If it isn't okay to give them twigs from a tree that may have been sprayed years ago, why is okay to give them foods that have been produced using pesticides?

I don't want to do anything that could hurt my chinchillas, but I also don't understand how it would be possible to avoid every pesticide ever in the modern world. Everything uses them.

If you can get a sapling, you might as the green house owner if it has ever been sprayed .