Hello there! This is my first winter in my new house in Michigan and I put a lot of work into getting the lawn ready for action next season. The snow has finally started coming down and I am starting to shovel my driveway and walkway (pic) and I had a question about salting.
In advance of posting this I looked to see if there were any tips on the sub about salting and all I saw was the horrible salt damage after pictures and questions about how to remedy it.
So trying to get out ahead of this, is there a way to safely salt this walkway and not destroy the lawn on either side?
My concern is if I lay down salt today and it snows tomorrow I will just be shoveling all that salt onto the lawn and then resalt in a vicious cycle.
by p0nzischeme
15 Comments
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Try to find calcium chloride instead of sodium chloride ice melt. My local Lowe’s stocks it this time of year. Much safer for the lawn.
Don’t use salt is your only option that I know of. It damages everything. Your pavers, your lawn, your concrete, everything. If you really want something, try sand?
If you have a ton of money, you can get a bunch of those heated walkway mats that melt the snow. I have one set and they’re amazing
Hello, don’t salt. It’s bad for the bricks, it’s bad for the concrete, it’s bad for the grass. Just don’t salt. Get out early when it snows and shovel it when it’s fresh before it gets compacted or starts to melt.
Look, the hard truth is that standard rock salt (Sodium Chloride) acts like a desiccant and sucks the moisture right out of your grass roots, essentially burning them chemically. Since you are in Michigan and dealing with real cold, you need to switch to Magnesium Chloride or Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA). They cost a bit more upfront than the cheap bag at the gas station, but they are significantly gentler on your turf and your pavers. Also, stop salting before the snow falls if you plan to shovel that snow onto the grass. You shovel the path clean first, then apply a mix of sand and your safe-melt sparingly just for traction.
That walkway looks pretty narrow for a heavy snow zone which means your shovel is inevitably dumping snow right on the turf edge. If you find the grass edges struggling come spring, the long-term fix is installing a 12-inch buffer of river rock or granite along the sides to act as a drainage catch for that brine.
You can use sand instead of salt. It won’t melt the ice/snow of course, but it can help make things less slippery.
Alternatively, instead of normal salt you can use magnesium chloride (often marketed as “pet-safe” ice melt) or calcium chloride.
Both are more expensive than salt — and magnesium chloride is quite bit more expensive, doesn’t work as well, and I’ve found it stains the pavers of my patio, so I will probably stick with calcium chloride going forwards.
Just my 2¢
Shovel better and don’t use salt… shovel as early as you can in the day and let the sun melt the ice.
The key is: use as little de-icer as possible and avoid plain rock salt if you can. Shovel first and stay on top of storms so you’re not trying to melt inches of stuff with chemicals. When you do need something, use a “pet/plant safe” product (calcium/mag blends, CMA, etc.) and sprinkle a light band just where you walk, not edge-to-edge and not into the grass. Pick one spot that’s farther from the lawn as your snow dump so all the salty slush isn’t piled on your best turf. In spring, give the edges a couple of deep soakings and a little extra love (fertilizer/overseed) and your lawn should come through winter just fine.
Get fancy and pick up a Heat Trak walkway mat. Probably $250 and that whole path will be heated and never frozen.
I don’t live in a suitable place now, but when I lived further north, I didn’t use salt at all. I’d shovel the walk and driveway without, and the radiant heat from the sun would tend to clear the last bit of snow and ice.
Honestly, I’ve never found salt to be particularly helpful.
I would get a bag of Magnesium Chloride or Calcium Magnesium Acetate and only use it if you have dangerous icy conditions. It should last you the entire winter. My only concern is deliveries to my front porch when it gets icy.
I’ve been using an eco blend ice melter for the last couple of seasons and it doesn’t seem to be as harsh on the lawn, god knows if there’s really difference
Use ice slicer instead
Use calcium magnesium acetate, it is way less damaging to plants. Downside is cost, but it works well too. Try to find it pure. You can also put down a ‘mix’, which is CMA and coarse sand that provides traction.
Also to protect the grass you can put down gypsum. Gypsum (calcium sulfate) will unbind sodium ions from the soil matrix and let water wash them through the soil profile. It works way better if you put it on ahead of the salting, but putting it on as soon as you can will help a lot with preventing and (to a degree) fixing salt damage. Sprinkle some gypsum on the grass bordering the pathway and sidewalk.
When I worked for a shoveling company we used something called CMA on any pavement we were trying to avoid damaging. Calcium magnesium something. It will still damage stuff but is far better than typical rock salt