Whenever the winter season is in complete force, people use salt deicers on roads, driveways, and walkways for safety. These salt deicers eliminate ice on the ground to help people walk safely. However, it is crucial to know that these salt deicing products can have a bad impact on your shrubs and trees.
One of the most popular deicing products out there is rock salt, also known as Sodium Chloride. Runoff of melted snow and ice might cause residual material to directly seep into the soil or splash onto foliage. This can lead to injuries to plants, such as wilting and more.
Today, we’re going to share with you several things you should know about tree and salt damage. If you want to protect your trees, make sure you hire a professional tree service Macon GA company.
How to Protect Your Shrubs and Trees from Salt Damage?
It’s extremely difficult to prevent damage to your plants. The cold weather complicates efforts to help them. In addition to that, there’s no way to wash off the salt. When you’re planning to plant shrubs and trees near roads and driveways, you have to ensure you think about salt-tolerant species. This includes juniper, oak, birch, and much more.
Regularly monitoring plants guarantees overall health. You’ve got to ensure you keep trees watered properly. To help counteract salt in the tree’s root system, try to use calcium sulfate (also known as gypsum). A professional tree service company can also help keep trees healthy year-round. Thus, you can make them less vulnerable to damage.
There are a couple of other things you can do to help lower salt damage. This includes:
- Water properly during dry periods
- Lay down mulch to avoid leakage
- Use barriers of wood or burlap
These preventative measures could lower the possibility of trees and shrubs experiencing a lot of damage.
Salt Damage Can Affect a Lot of Trees
The most vulnerable species to this kind of damage are evergreens. Airborne salt that is thrown away by traffic can settle on the plant’s foliage. This can lead to drying out. Unfortunately, salt can also affect deciduous plants too. Soil can absorb the salt. This can lead to damage to almost all types of shrubs and trees that live in that soil.
How to Determine Salt Damage?
Dryness of leaves and wilting is the most popular sign. However, it’s typically obvious only after huge amounts of salt have been collected. Oftentimes, major drooping indicates soil damage. This is particularly true if it’s at the top of a tree. The reason for this is that salt prevents proper water absorption by the roots. That’s why your tree will experience symptoms that can be almost the same as trees experiencing drought. Typically, salt spray from car traffic happens on the bottom part of the tree that faces the street. Furthermore, affected trees have a tendency to bloom later in the spring and have thin leaves.
There are other signs to look for. This includes:
- Dead branches
- Premature defoliation and fall coloration
- Thinning of branch tips
- Browning of foliage
- And stunted growth of foliage
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