Ep 194. Salt Impact on Plants and Remedies

Mary Stone discusses the impact of road salt on plants and the environment, highlighting the damaging effects of chloride ions on dehydrating plants and aquatic life. 

Mary reviews beet juice, pickle, and cheese brine alternatives municipalities are testing, along with non-toxic home remedies to use instead of salt. Plus, ways to help by volunteering in your community activities to reduce salt use by sharing examples of how the Paulinskill Watershed River Watchers in northern New Jersey are impacting change. 

Thanks for tuning in!

Related Posts and Podcasts you'll enjoy:

Salt Impact on Plants and Remedies – Blog Post 

Myths, Truths, and Protecting Roots – Blog Post
Ep. 193 Myths, Truths, and Protecting Roots

Preservation of the Paulinskill River -  Blog Post
Ep 185. Preservation of the Paulinskill - Overcoming Hardships

Link for more about the Paulinskill Watershed River Watchers: https://paulinskillwatershed.org/

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Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer
                                        AskMaryStone.com

More about the Podcast and Column:

Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
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Transcript

Ep 194. Salt Impact on Plants and Remedies
Sat, Feb 15, 2025 4:40PM • 11:47
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
salt impact, road salt, concrete damage, chloride ions, environmental damage, beet juice, pickle brine, cheese brine, salt alternatives, salt-tolerant plants, root zone, salt removal, volunteer efforts, winter maintenance, aquatic life
SPEAKERS
Mary Stone

Mary Stone  00:00
Mary, Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone, and welcome to garden dilemmas, delights and discoveries. It's not only about gardens. It's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learn from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about. 

Mary Stone  00:26
Hello there. It's Mary Stone on a very cold screen porch. And once again, we have a snow event underway. Since our last chat, we had five inches of snow fall, and then rain came upon it, creating a very dense layer, and I enjoyed a cross-country ski on the Paulinskill Rail Trail. A bald eagle and a blue heron greeted me at different points on the trail, gliding over the river, so lovely. And the day before that, I was invited to attend a special walk hosted by the Paulinskill Watershed River Watchers, a program of the Food Shed Alliance in Hope New Jersey, the title of the event the Winter Wonders of Hyper Humus, which I never heard about. Hyper humus refers to the company that once did a massive peat mining for many years within the Paulinskill watershed here in New Jersey, which has significantly impacted the local ecosystem. And that portion of the Paulinskill watershed is still referred to as hyper humus. I will share that story in a future episode, but today, I wanted to follow up with our last chat about Myths, Truths and Protecting Roots, and continue the topic of how salt impacts plants and what we can do to help in our own yards. But first, thanks to those who reached back after our last chat, grateful to know that the roots of trees can go two to four times beyond the width of the canopy, which is the branches, and most of the root activity is below the few inches underneath the soil. So no more parking under trees and squishing the roots. Yay. So on to this week's story, which starts like this. 

Mary Stone  02:08
Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. This is the time of year I attend manufacturer showcases premiering new products, mostly paver or block retaining wall systems which are made of concrete. This is also the time of the year that road salt and brine are being used to de-ice our roads. Road salt and brine are not kind to concrete, though many paver manufacturers tout that theirs are resistant to both, primarily because they are made of high-density concrete, which is twice as strong and less absorbent as our poured concrete. Still, it's very devastating, but I'm spilling the beans. 

Mary Stone  02:49
Road salt, also called rock salt, or sodium chloride, which is NACI is a mineral mined naturally, is essentially the same as what's in our saltshakers, except it's less purified, hence why it's often grayish or brownish. It's only effective in melting snow and ice to about 15 degrees. Below that magnesium chloride or calcium chloride is added, and it's the chloride ions that cause much of the environmental damage to hydrating plants and killing small aquatic organisms. It also corrodes our cars and hurts our canine kids’ feet. And there is something you can buy that's a little less damaging to our natural stone, which is calcium magnesium acetate, CMA. It's safe for natural stone and our pets’ paws. 

Mary Stone  03:40
We've all noticed the white lines of brine being used, which is cheaper than rock salt. It doesn't bounce off the road, and it can be sprayed in advance of a storm and remain effective for up to three days. In most states, brine is a combo of rock salt and magnesium chloride mixed with water. The thing is, auto experts claim magnesium chloride is far more corrosive than rock salt to our cars and can find its way in the nooks and crannies, making it hard to wash off, causing our vehicles to corrode even faster. 

Mary Stone  04:16
There are alternatives to brine being tried in hopes of having more environmentally kind solutions, for example, beat wastewater. You heard me right --  from the plants that process sugar beets. It turns out, because of the sugars in the waste water, it works in the lower temperatures and adheres better than brine alone. I came upon a recent article published by Canada salt groups. It's on their website, and it was dated October 22 2024 they shared that when beet juice is combined with road salt, salt usage can be decreased, resulting in less damage to the plants on the roadside. And beet juice is more environmentally friendly to waterways because it's natural. However, there are some concerns that it might raise the water's biochemical oxygen demand, which can impact aquatic life. So there's more to learn, isn't there? 

Mary Stone  05:11
The same source was talking about different cities that tried the brine -  Denver, Colorado, Toronto, Canada, and they've had some good success with using beet juice during the winter road maintenance. They have used less salt, and they cut down on maintenance costs, and they believe they reduced environmental damage, which is encouraging, and other cities are trying it as well. And people are happy that beet juice is being used because it seems more eco-friendly, but there are some people who are reporting sticky residue and smell on the roads. So, there you go. Nothing is perfect, is it? 

Mary Stone  05:51
States have been dabbling with pickle brine, which is effective in temperatures as low as negative six degrees, and apparently it keeps snow and ice from bonding with the road surface. Most promising is that they say it lessens the amount of chloride released in the environment by 14 to 29%. Then there's cheese brine from soft cheeses like mozzarella, primarily used in Wisconsin, where cheese is plentiful. I can't imagine what all these goodies smell like, but hey, whatever is kinder to the environment, right? 

Mary Stone  06:24
I got a kick of how Acadia Johnson, the administrative and Operations Specialist, explained in an article in the Mississippi watershed management organizations website. And this was in December of 2024 -- that unlike traditional liquid deicer, pickle brine is an organic byproduct of food production, repurposed for road treatment. While its novelty makes it an attention grabber online, it raises important questions about practicality, environmental impacts, and how it differs from more established liquid solutions. Meaning it too has a negative impact on the environment, maybe, hopefully less, but not a perfect solution. So, this is the part that just made me smile. So ,while pickle brine may remain a quirky topic, the real success is working together to embrace solutions that make salt a relic of the past. Imagine that! Better plowing shoveling and heated pavements can help. You can install radiant heat under paver walks and driveways, and there's testing underway to use solar panels to heat water and pipes installed under roads. Those sure sound less sticky than beet pickle and cheese brine, but whatever works best for our safety and the safety of our dear Earth and the wildlife we share it with. Garden Dilemmas, AskMaryStone.com

Mary Stone  07:57
So I received an email from Bridget of Stone Church Pennsylvania, asking: What will all the salt do to the roadside trees? Late winter, road salt is the most damaging to plants, according to Cornell University. Beginning in early March, plants start breaking dormancy. Their roots begin absorbing nutrients and water from the soil for the soon to come leaves. Toxic Chloride ions, which usually leach from the soil rapidly, are more likely absorbed at this time. So, it's best to avoid piling salt laden snow around plants. And when choosing new plants, choose those that are salt tolerant, if within 30 feet of where salt will be used. There are lists you can find at your local extension office. Rutgers University has one here that I really rely upon for finding salt tolerant plants.

Mary Stone  08:51
For existing plants move the salt laden snow from the root zone as soon as the thaw begins. On young trees that root zone is only the width of the drip line of the branches, but as we spoke about last week on mature trees, that is twice to four times as wide. So be careful about that and obviously be considerate where you move the snow.  When temperatures rise above freezing, hose fresh water around the tree or shrubs to flush out the salt. Where will the salt go? An ongoing dilemma. Yes, indeed. So, at home, why not use cat litter, sand, coffee grounds or cinders instead of road salt and prayers that Mother Nature is done messing around with Old Man Winter.

Mary Stone  09:37
As we're concluding our walk on Saturday, there was a huge pile of salt left behind in the parking lot. And Chris de Wit, who was the spokesperson of the informational part of a chat of the Walk the Winter Wonders of Hyper Humus, told us that you can contact somebody in the municipality to have that pile of salt removed. So, there you go. We each can make a difference by reaching out and getting things turned around. 

Mary Stone  10:04
It was fun to learn that volunteers from the same organization that he's working with, the New Jersey watershed watch organization, that they're the ones that did the removal of those tubes that we spoke about in Episode 185 The Preservation of the Paulinskill - Overcoming Hardships. Volunteers took all those tubes away and stacked them up. What a beautiful thing. And volunteers are sampling water with test kits to see the salt volumes that exist, so they can monitor and track improvements that are being made. One step at a time improvements can be made, and we are all part of that. So do not hesitate to reach out when you can and step in and pick up trash along the road, pick up salt piles if nobody comes and does it.

Mary Stone  10:52
And thank you for your kind words back to me after I shared my personal story last week. I just love hearing your stories about how nature and gardens heal and grow your life. It's why I do this, and I love your encouragement, and I love our time together, and I hope you have as well and continue to join me. It means so much. See you next time on the screen porch. Have a great day. 

Mary Stone  11:17
You can follow garden dilemmas on Facebook or online at Garden dilemmas.com and on Instagram at hashtag. Mary Elaine Stone, garden dilemmas, delights and discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch and always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.