Container Gardening Question?

We received a question from one of our readers about the safety of gardening in containers and which container material is the best, but we don't have answer. Does our audience have any information to share on the topic? Any advice would be much appreciated! See our reader's question below.

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I have a very important question and think UCDavis may be the best place to get an answer....

Is it safe to grow vegetables in plastic containers, such as the "plastic" clay colored pots sold at nurseries, and the black gallon or more containers that many plants are sold in? If drinking water from plastic bottles can be dangerous, can this practice be also?

...and how about clay type pots.... how does one know if they contain lead, and if so does in end up in the plants grown in them?

I have been using containers - to grow tomatoes and peppers- for several reasons, mainly to avoid ground critters...but many other folks use them to grow plants on their patios. If using such containers is a heath hazard, it would be kind of you to let us all know.

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I wish we had an answer from the UC Davis archives, but I was not able to find one! I am sorry we couldn't be more help! You may want to locate a one of your local Master Gardeners and ask them as well. I know that their are quite a few that read our blog, so stay tuned here too!