How can road salt harm plants




















The extent of damage can vary with plant type, type of salt, fresh water availability and volume, movement of runoff, and when salts are applied. De-icing salts without sodium are safer for plants than sodium chloride. Salts applied in late winter generally result in more damage than salts applied in early winter because there is a better chance the salt is leached away before active root growth in spring.

The volume of fresh water applied to soils also impacts the amount of salts leached away, while rainfall can wash salt from leaves. Reduce salt use. Combine salt with other materials such as sand, sawdust, or cinders that can provide grittiness for traction. De-icing materials that use salts other than sodium chloride, including calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, or calcium magnesium acetate CMA are more expensive but can reduce injury to plants.

Make applications carefully. Applications should be targeted at walkways and roadways, not landscape beds or lawns. The flow of salt-laden runoff water should be considered for when snow melts. Avoid planting in areas where runoff naturally flows. Leaching soils by watering heavily can help remove salts from well-drained soils. This is not possible with poorly draining soils. Improve drainage of poorly drained soils by adding organic matter. Protect plants with physical barriers such as burlap, plastic, or wood.

Use salt tolerant plants in areas near roads, driveways, and sidewalks. Remember that salt tolerant does not mean injury free. The following is a table of the reported salt tolerance of selected trees and shrubs. Tolerance can also vary depending on method of salt exposure spray vs. There are conflicting reports for salt tolerance of many species. Soil type and climate variability can result in differences in plant response between areas.

The following sources also have lists of reported salt tolerance of some common landscape plants:. Soluble Salts in Soils and Plant Health. Beckerman, J. Salt Damage in Landscape Plants. Purdue Extension. Factsheet IDW. Gould, Ann. When too much salt accumulates in the soil, most typically the areas closest to the road, it can reach toxic levels that keep plants from absorbing enough water, no matter how wet the soil is.

When salty water is sprayed from passing cars onto your shrubs or trees, it dehydrates the plant tissue. Landscape plants such as trees, shrubs, perennials and turfgrass are all susceptible to salt damage, and spray from passing vehicles is particularly harmful for evergreens. What many homeowners find is thin or dead grass along their driveways, says Craig. But as it slowly runs off, the de-icer builds up in the soil next to the concrete and kills the grass growing there.

The Purdue University Extension explains just how that damage happens. When salt dissolves in water and the sodium and chloride ions separate.

When a plant absorbs this water, those ions replace other nutrients in the soil the plant needs. Damage from de-icers varies. Factors including plant type, salt type, fresh water availability, runoff and more all play a part, says the University of Massachusetts Center for Food, Agriculture and the Environment.

Salts applied in late winter generally do more damage. The volume of fresh water applied to the soil also makes an impact, and rainfall can wash leaves clean of salt spray or residue. The results will show the parts per million of salt in your soil so you can figure out how to fix it-or whether you even need to. For your plants, UMass lists some common symptoms of too much exposure to de-icers:.

De-icing salt should be kept to high-risk areas, says a detailed guide from Dane County, Wisc. Dane County gives an example of one pound of salt diluted with 50 pounds of sand, which it says is an effective abrasive compound, especially on walkways.

Hi I am doing a science presentation and I am doing it on road salt. Good luck with your presentation! Can you point me in the right direction to find more information on the impact road salt has on human health? My dad has a histamine response every time he comes into contact with it, and he keeps being poo-pooed for his concerns. There are no chemicals in road salt. There is no ultimate correlation here. Testing of groundwater is a much more recent event that salting roads.

Also, chloride is not a something that is stable; all chlorides must bind with another element, e. There are many halogens bound chlorides that make their way into our streams and water tables via industry, agriculture and natural activity.

But, I am saying that you have not proven a link between road salt and waterway contamination. Almost all principalities that use road salt also have storm water systems that remove road runoff away from open environments for selective treatment prior to re-introduction into existent waterways. You most certainly have not proven a link between road salt and the brackish wells of Duchess County. Those chlorides were not sodium chlorides and were not from industrial and agricultural activity.

Hi Ben. I recommend reading the contextual links in the article to learn more about the methodologies and findings of the scientific studies cited. Though the study of how road salt impacts the environment is still relatively new, researchers have already made significant discoveries that warrant further thought and examination.

I am doing my grade 5 elementary school science expo on road salt alternatives this year and this article helped me a lot! Thank you so much!

My school science fair project was about radio waves, but that was a long time ago! Our state department of transportation released data that shows the application of chloride de-icers more than tripled between and In a commercial potable water supply was polluted to the point that fresh water had to be trucked in.

Sizable swaths of pine trees are dying. It is more accurate to state: It is believed that deposits were formed after prehistoric oceans evaporated. So what your telling me is. That something as simple as salt on roads is hurting the environment. So salt is hurting the environment? Ecology , Sustainability , Water. An underground salt mine. Photo: Cargill. Tags: ecology Environment freshwater Groundwater health New York New York City new york watershed roads salt Sustainability water conservation water matters water pollution.

Notify of. I agree to help cultivate an open and respectful discussion. Oldest Newest Most Voted.



0コメント

  • 1000 / 1000