Comment on Indoor lettuce growing in 3D printed pots
lowspeedchase@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
Is this PLA or ABS? Not to be ‘that guy’ ^TM^ but I would be worried about microplastics and leaching if you are eating that lettuce!
It’s PLA. I honestly hadn’t considered the microplastics when using this material as a growing container. Though I do know not to use it to make cups and bowls and stuff that you eat out of.
I think my printer can print ABS, although I’ve never tried. Would that material be safer to grow in?
Certified food-grade PETG + food safe resin seal is the best from what I have read (I researched a bunch as I am building a greenhouse)
Thank you for the knowledge! It looks like foodgrade petg is 3 times the price and I don’t plan on changing nozzles and stuff to keep everything kosher anyway. So I reckon I’ll use regular petg and hit it with Shellac for the redux. Unless you have a food safe resin seal to recommend based off your research?
Thanks again!
Hobby woodworker here. Shellac is great for an initial seal, but isn’t waterproof. I suggest using a two part epoxy instead. You don’t need a very thick coat, so you could even use a crack filler and/or self leveling variety.
No problem - yeah that will probably be just fine, at non-commercial scale the seal will probably never get worn off and if you did ever notice spotting you can just reseal.
Unless you have a food safe resin seal to recommend based off your research?
Nope not yet! Still in the structural phase here so when I get to printing I will share for sure.
I just looked for a study I remembered. One has to be careful as the study is commissioned, not peer-reviewed and they clearly have an agenda with this. However there is a compelling case that PLA will break down without leaving microplastics over time. Ingestion might still not be better than PETG or ABS, but that’s not really clear to me. In the long run PLA seems to be the lest bad though.
Interesting, thanks for sharing - taking this with a grain as you mentioned though.
unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 2 days ago
Idk about ABS, but PLA definitely leeches unhealthy chemicals and will break down into microplastics in soil. It doesnt decompose.
lowspeedchase@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
Yup and the constant UV/moisture exposure will expedite the process, that’s why I was asking!