Key Points
Rock salt contains high sodium and chloride levels, making it especially harmful to plants.
Reduce damage by using salt-free alternatives or mixing melt products with sand or sawdust.
Plant salt-tolerant varieties near roads, sidewalks, and driveways for better long-term resilience.
Snow and ice create conditions that can damage plants, lawns, and pollute waterways, particularly those located adjacent to roads, sidewalks, driveways, and other high-traffic areas.
Rock salt is inexpensive, effective, and the most commonly used ice and snow-melting product. But less harmful options are available.
Read this comprehensive guide to find out how salt injures plants, the trouble signs and symptoms, and what you can do to minimize or fix the damage. We’ll also look at other methods for keeping high-traffic areas safe.
How Salt Damages Plants
When your local road crew uses salt to clear snow-covered streets, passing vehicles spray contaminated water onto adjacent plants, including trees and shrubs. Salt spray desiccates buds, leaves, needles, and twigs that die back in harsh winter winds.
Components of salt, sodium and chloride, leech into soil through runoff and block other minerals plants need. Sodium is absorbed by roots, displacing important nutrients.
Chloride is taken up into foliage, which inhibits photosynthesis and chlorophyll production. Accumulated salts become toxic, causing yellowing, leaf burn, and dieback.
When salt-treated snow and ice are plowed or blown onto lawns and garden beds, it melts into the soil where it absorbs water needed by plants.
Roots become dehydrated, and water stress causes stunting, deformities, and dieback. Soil can become compacted over time, negatively impacting drainage, aeration, and microorganisms.
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Signs of Salt Damage
Damage most apparent in plants located along roadways, including trees and shrubs, shows up on the side closest to the thoroughfare. The following symptoms also appear in garden beds and lawns next to sidewalks, driveways, patios, and other hardscape features.
Dieback of buds, twigs, and stems.Thin or dead brown patches on lawns.A white crust on top of the soil or lawn from accumulated salt.Withered or discolored grass.Delayed bud break. Trees may leaf out later than usual.Stunting or slow growth with distorted leaves or stems.Flowers, fruits, and leaves are smaller than normal.Salt burn, discoloration, on leaf margins and at evergreen needle tips.Nutrient deficiencies.Early leaf drop or premature autumn color.
How to Reduce Salt Damage on Plants
Salt damage may not manifest right away and can even take years, depending on plant and soil type, and how often salt products are used. It can be difficult to correct, depending on the type of plant and the length of exposure to toxic materials. Taking a proactive approach saves time and expense.
Irrigate with fresh water following application of salt-based products. Spray branches and foliage of evergreens and shrubs with clean water.
Work organic matter into the soil to improve drainage.
Add gypsum, which helps break up salts, causing them to dissolve more quickly.
Avoid high salt chemical fertilizers to allow plants to recover.
Grade sidewalks and driveways or create channels to direct drainage and move salt-contaminated water away from your lawn, flower beds, shrubs, and trees.
Build a barrier fence or use burlap or other material to protect plants in vulnerable locations.
Grow salt-tolerant plants near high-traffic areas.
Wait to prune until early spring and start lightly until new growth gives an accurate picture of dead or damaged branches.
Alternative Ways to Clear Snow and Ice
When selecting a product for ice and snow removal, read the ingredient label. Rock salt formulas often contain the greatest quantity of sodium and chloride, with other filler products in small quantities. Products with lower concentrations of sodium are less toxic to plants.
Forego melting products altogether and use mechanical methods like shovels, snow blowers, and plows for removal. Or switch from a sodium chloride product to one that uses calcium, magnesium, or potassium chloride. These are more costly but less toxic to plants.
Add sand, sawdust, cat litter, or gypsum to your ice melting formula to decrease the amount of salt product needed and reduce soil toxicity.
Use salt-based products only as much as is necessary to ensure safety and avoid late-season applications when the ground is no longer frozen. This allows more time for salts to dissolve and disperse in soil.
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