Salt-damaged shrubs. Photo courtesy Purdue University
Over the next few weeks and into spring, a lot us will be looking at our landscapes for signs of salt damage.
Is there anything we can do to mitigate plant damage from the salt and other ice melts we’ve been using? That’s the question I put to Rosie Lerner, consumer horticulturist at Purdue University.
“Anything that assists dilution of the salt will be helpful, so the thaw is a good thing! But there’s not much else practical to do at present. Irrigation at this time is not feasible,” Lerner said.
Damaged lawns look like dried grass. The damage usually appears around the edges of the lawn, such as where it meets a treated driveway, sidewalk or road. This is where salt-contaminated snow and ice gets shoveled, which may increase concentrations of deicer chemicals. These are the same areas where shrubs and perennials get salt damaged, too.
Salt damages plants in several ways. They can dry out the branches, leaves or roots of a plant. Some plants poison themselves by taking up toxic levels of salt, Lerner said.
“Sodium salts in particular can also cause a nutritional imbalance by changing the chemistry of the soil and harm soil structure,” she said.
Salt spray damage is the easiest to identify because of the dried leaf and flower buds and tips of plants. As the tips of the plants die, the plant responds by growing an excessive number of side branches, Lerner said.
Throughout the growing season, more plant damage may become apparent, such as stunted growth, poor vigor, unusual leaf drop or die back of growing tips, she said.
For more information, download Purdue’s pamphlet Salt Damage in Landscape Plants.
