WINTER SALT
MAKING WINTER ICE NONSKID
Unless scrupulously applied, road salt is a disaster for anything but ice. If you don’t believe us, sprinkle salt in a potted plant, on wet steel, or on concrete over time.
For a walk or icy patch of driveway, use sand instead, obtainable in five-pound or ten-pound bags at your hardware store or garden center. It provides a non-slip surface, and being a darker color than snow and ice, it soaks up heat, which melts the ice without harm to plants—not as quickly as salt, which is admittedly speedy, but soon enough. And which would you rather have tracked into your kitchen or place of business, salt or sand?
Consider these thoughts from researchers at the Cary Institute who have studied the subject.
Check out the joint Town and Village of Rhinebeck’s Road Salt Reduction Project.