Learn how to prevent salt damage to landscape plants
Americans use a lot of salt, according to Chris Enroth, a horticulture educator with University of Illinois Extension.
"Potato chips aside, I'm talking about the amount of de-icing salt we put out into the environment every winter."
How much de-icing salt does America go through every year?
A Purdue study showed property owners in the U.S. apply more than 15 million tons of de-icing salts to their driveways, patios, and walkways, and that's not including salt applied to roadways.
Salt comes in a variety of forms. Most de-icing salts are identical to the table salt in our spice rack, sodium chloride. In its raw mineral form, sodium chloride is referred to as halite, better known as rock salt.
De-icing salts can have a negative effect on plants. Humans have known about the toxic effects of salt on plants for centuries. In fact, salt is thought to be the first biological weapon; ancient invading armies used salt to destroy enemy crops.
"Excess salt works two ways against plants," Enroth said. "The first occurs in the soil when the sodium and chloride ions separate after dissolving in water. The sodium ions block the plant root's uptake of other critical plant nutrients like potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Then the plants absorb the chloride, which interferes with photosynthesis.
"The second detrimental effect is how salt pulls water away and out of plant roots or leaves, the same way salt dries up a snail," Enroth said. "This stunts plant growth and can lead to a dead plant."
What can you do to protect landscape plants and lawns?
"Use alternative de-icers that aren't made of sodium chloride," Enroth said. "Products that contain calcium chloride or calcium magnesium acetate have a lower risk of damaging plants. These lower-risk de-icers are typically more expensive, but consider the cost of resowing lawn seed every spring or replacing a dead shrub or perennial year after year."
Avoid de-icers by putting down coarse sand on walkways.
"The sand works, but be prepared with your vacuum, as it often gets tracked in the house," Enroth said. "Another strategy is to plant salt-tolerant plants near pavement that frequently gets treated with salt."
Keeping walkways shoveled during the storm helps to alleviate the need for de-icing chemicals. Sometimes ice buildup on walkways is unavoidable and use of a de-icer is necessary. Enroth recommends the following methods to reduce salt damage to nearby plants:
• Hose off road salts that splash onto trees and shrubs as soon as possible or cover with burlap as a barrier to salt spray.
• Avoid planting in areas that will inevitably get treated with de-icing salts.
• Salt can build up to lethal levels in the soil. As the weather warms, you can leach salts out of the soil by irrigating the area multiple times with deep waterings.
• Apply de-icers before a storm arrives. You will also end up using less de-icing material with this approach.
• If snow and ice are already covering your walkway, shovel and remove as much frozen stuff as possible before applying the de-icer.
For more information on University of Illinois Extension programs and services in DuPage, Kane or Kendall County, visit go.illinois.edu/extensiondkk.
University of Illinois Extension is the flagship outreach effort of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, offering educational programs to residents of all of Illinois' 102 counties - and far beyond.
U of I Extension's programs are aimed at making life better, healthier, safer and more prosperous for individuals and their communities.
While most Extension programs are offered on an informal, noncredit basis, U of I Extension does offer continuing education credits in some fields of study. Extension programs may be offered as hands-on workshops, field days, self-paced tutorials via the internet, or in other formats that are suitable for the audience and subject matter.
To find out more about Extension programs in the DuPage-Kane-Kendall Unit, just call, email or stop by any of the offices.
The Kane County Extension office is at 535 S. Randall Road in St. Charles. To reach them, contact (630) 584-6166 or uie-dkk@illinois.edu. Hours are 8:30 to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.
The DuPage County Extension office is at 1100 E. Warrenville Road, Suite 170, in Naperville. To reach them, contact (630) 955-1123 or uie-dkk@illinois.edu. Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays; and 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to Friday.
The Kendall County Extension office is at 7775-B Route 47, Yorkville. To reach them, contact (630) 553-5823 or uie-dkk@illinois.edu. Hours are: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.
Follow the Extension programs on Facebook at www.facebook.com/extensiondkk or www.facebook.com/UIExtension.