Millions of tons of road salt are used in the US every year to deal with winter roads. While often necessary to ensure the safety of vehicles, deicing salt can cause damage to soil, turf, plants, and trees. This can lead to stunted or damaged plants if left untreated.
Here’s a look at how to reduce salt damage:
What Is Salt Damage?
Excess salt can damage plants in two main ways. First, salty spray from cars can hit the plants directly and lead to desiccation, wind damage, and leaf burn. This damage may not become apparent until spring when plants start to leaf out. Second, dissolved salt in water runoff can soak into the soil, and the sodium and chloride ions can displace nutrients in the soil.
Plants may then absorb the salt ions instead of necessary nutrients, leading to weaker leaves and stems. Excessively salty soils can also prevent plants from absorbing water, leading to desiccation and eventual death.
Signs of Salt Damage
In spring, look for thin or dead grass along sidewalks, roads, and other areas near salt applications. On trees, especially evergreens, you’ll see stunted growth, scorched leaf edges, yellowed leaves or needles, and twig dieback.
In general, you’ll want to look for unusual signs of reduced plant vigor, slow growth, dehydration, and slow development.
A soil test will also let you know if there are excessively high levels of sodium and salts in your soil.
What to Do About Salt Damage
The easiest way to reduce salt damage on landscapes is to use less deicing salt. Keep salt to high-traffic areas where the risk of people being injured will be highest. Either wait until the snow has been shoveled or plowed off before applying salt to the remaining ice, or apply a small amount early on before a snowstorm hits and ice forms. If possible, avoid using salt late in winter so road salts have more time to get diluted.
In some places, like on sidewalks or driveways, sand, sawdust, or other materials can help prevent slipping, and will not cause environmental damage. If you need to use deicing salts, place it carefully so it doesn’t get onto turf or in garden beds. Keep in mind how the snowmelt will flow when it warms up, too: will the water carry the salts straight into soil or grass?
Non-sodium deicing salts, including potassium chloride and calcium chloride, are less harmful to plants, but are a more expensive option. Some of them work at even lower temperatures than sodium salts, so these may sometimes be better options.
With the right precautions and carful applications, you can reduce winter salt damage to your landscape and keep plants healthy through the rest of the year. If you’re still having problems with salt damage, we have a product designed to help remove salt from soils.