Avoid Salt Damage

Last month we witnessed a winter storm that brought us a lot of snow. Thanks to spreading salt, many roads did not become too dangerous. Spreading salt before any winter storm is crucial to avoid the snow sticking to the roads and turning into ice. Salt has been able to help us continue our day to day lives without much interruption or worry about being stuck on the road. However there is a downside: the spreading of salt can, unfortunately, harm our trees in the process.

When salt is spread, it can accumulate in the soil and make it harder for the trees to receive water. The accumulation in the soil also destroys the soil structure, which in turn makes it harder for the roots to grow and breathe. Some damage caused by the salt can be observed during late winter, while other trees start showing damage in early summer. Signs of salt damage on Evergreen and Deciduous trees are seen when their needles/leaves start to turn a yellowish-brown color.

If you would like to avoid any damage to your trees, here are some ways that you can protect them. The first thing is to water the trunk of your trees to rinse off any salt that has built up. For the non-Deciduous trees, you can also rinse off the foliage (unless it has already rained). NOTE: Watering should take place only when the temperatures are above freezing point so that it does not turn into ice. The second thing that can help mitigate damage from salt is to irrigate the soil around the tree with fresh water so that it can lower the concentration of salt. Lastly, and probably the best option, is to choose a de-icer that does not cause a lot of harm to the trees, like Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA).

If your trees still end up being harmed after applying the preventive measures, contact an ISA Certified Arborist (like us!) so that we can make sure that your trees are safe and do not need any maintenance.