Organic Answers Column – January 17, 2024 – Salt

Pavement Ice Treatments

Misinformed folks start throwing rock salt, table salt, ice cream salt and high salt fertilizers out to try to prevent slipping on ice. These techniques and products are bad. They are bad for the soil, bad for the plants, bad for the water and bad for the environment in general.

Here in Texas, concrete sand is primarily used by the Texas Highway Department and seems to do a good job on highways and is non-polluting. Some work has been done in Texas and other states with magnesium products and other relatively non-toxic choices. Spraying liquid salt mixtures has also become popular. What we continue to recommend for home and commercial office building use is lava sand or granite sand.

Rock salt washes into soil and causes landscape problems

Other effective products include alfalfa meal (a natural fertilizer), wood ashes (especially for acid soil areas), coal cinders and zeolite. These materials are not only non-toxic, but they are also good for the soil and the plants as they are washed or swept from the paving into lawns, right of ways and other planting areas. Sure, the sand products can be tracked inside, but so can the salts and toxic products. In fact, I have noticed this year that the salt products have been tracked inside badly.

Give the sand a try – it works very well.

Lava sand is a good choice for sidewalk treatment

Here’s a shot of my post office showing the wrong method – salt.

Rock salt at the post office.

Tip for walking on ice:
Tube socks turned inside out (rough side out) pull socks over shoes. Gives traction for walking.