I would like to understand which type of PVC would be recommended to safely grow edible plants. I have read that some types of PVC may not be safe for potable water? Thank you.

All rigid pvc pipe and fittings well sell made in the USA and the ones we import from China all have NSF61 rating (potable water is generally considered the highest standard.)

It’s 100% safe for food, water, human consumption, etc. to the best of our knowledge and established science and standards.

Our Flexible pvc pipe has an NSF51 rating. Generally NSF51 is considered safe for delivery and processing of liquids (wine, beer, milk, etc) during production, however the category our flexible pvc pipe has the rating for is swimming pools. It would pass an NSF51 certification for food if submitted but since 90% of the people using the product are using it for non-food applications it’s not worth the money ($250K and up) to get a separate certification. Furthermore the product would also comply with FDA recommendations. The FDA does not give certifications, it only lists approved products and generally as long as you aren’t using any banned products and stay in the “good list” then the product is considered “compatible” with FDA standards.

The flexible pvc pipe can not get an NSF61 rating because if water sits in the pipe overnight, it will pickup a plastic taste and in order to get an NSF61 rating, it can’t alter the taste (that’s one of the criteria.)

As for growing edible plants with pvc such as hydroponics, we know of thousands of customers who use it for just the purpose some of them organic certified, so we feel confident it would have no detrimental effects on plants or food.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.