Homeowners have salt alternatives

I read in the Greenville Pioneer that the town of Greenville has to budget more money for road salt as snow continues to fall. The price of salt, like almost everything else, has gone up substantially this year, from $48 a ton to almost $63.

Greenville uses about 1,000 tons per year. This is another reason why property taxes are so much higher in Northern states, compared to places like Florida. The salt takes a heavy toil on road structure as well. Potholes form when water gets into tiny cracks in the road as the freezing process creates forces that can easily break asphalt or even concrete. The cracks grow into potholes with every freeze and thaw. Of course, Florida has some serious issues with sinkholes that sometimes swallow houses overnight.

It is not uncommon in the Capital District/ Hudson Valley for heavily traveled roads, such as the Thruway, to receive 40 to 80 tons of deicing salt per lane mile per year. That works out to about 15 to 30 pounds per linear foot.

It is surprising that any roadside plants can tolerate that much salt, but most do. If they received a fraction of this much salt during the growing season, the roadsides would be devoid of vegetation. There is little the homeowner can do to change the road salt situation, but there are some alternatives to salt that may be used in the home environment.

Road salt or deicing salt is mostly unrefined rock salt, containing about 98.5 percent sodium chloride. Calcium chloride is sometimes used when temperatures are extremely low (rock salt is useless at temperatures below 10 degrees), but it is about eight times as expensive as sodium chloride. Rock salt causes injury to plants by absorbing water that would normally be available to the roots.

Even when moisture is plentiful, excess salt can create a drought-like environment. In addition, when salt is dissolved in water, it breaks down into sodium and chloride ions. Roots readily absorb chloride ions, and then they are carried through the sap stream to actively growing portions of the plant, such as leaf margins and shoot tips. High levels of chloride are toxic and result in characteristic marginal scorch patterns (brown edges around the leaves). Excess sodium in soil also hurts plants by encouraging soil compaction, leading to restricted uptake of oxygen and water. Calcium chloride is not nearly as damaging.

Plants most likely to be affected in the home landscape are those that receive lots of salt-laden snow. For example, if you routinely apply salt to your porch or steps or deck, the plants growing nearby are most at risk, especially if you shovel snow on top of their root systems. Likewise, plants along your driveway or roadside are more at risk then those in the backyard.

So what are the alternatives? First, buy calcium chloride instead of rock salt or purchase one of the newer deicing materials that are reported to be even less toxic to plants. In recent years, several new products have been developed that are very effective at melting snow and ice. These new products are quite expensive, but so are placement plants. If you just want to improve traction, try using sand or kitty litter or even fine gravel. Keep in mind, however, that you will most likely be tracking these materials into the house along with the snow on your boots. Never use soiled kitty litter for this reason!

Wood ashes have also been used for traction, but too much wood ash spread over your plants can raise the soil pH to damaging levels. Wood ash will also be carried in the house with the snow on your boots and it leaves an unsightly gray residue.

Bob Beyfuss lives and gardens in Schoharie County. Garden Tips appears Sundays. Send him an e-mail to rlb14@cornell.edu.