Road Salt & Trees?

[5 shires]

Forgive me if this subject has been covered already but just a question I need to ask.

i was driving down the M50 today coming back from a job in Ross On Wye...the weather was cold but dry crisp  and sunny and not many vehicles on the road so as I was driving along i notched that the road surface was kinder white and dusty and obviously this is from the dry salt/gravel mix that has been spread on the roads during this cold spell,now the M50 is along stretch of road and lined both sides with well established trees and it got me thinking that all those tons of salt mix must at some point get washed down towards the tree line and was wondering if this mass of salt has a detrimental affect on the trees has in either stunting there growth or eventually just killing them in time....as there ever been a study into this or am I getting it completely wrong.?????

[maybelateron]

I have always assumed the reason so many conifer hedges next to main roads that get gritted, and have heavy traffic with consequent spray when wet after gritting, is the salt they are exposed to. Doesn't mean I'm right of course.

[Dan Maynard]

I guess they don't enjoy it but suffer the salt. I think there is probably more salt spray on trees living next to the sea, but less salty water poured on the roots.

[htb]

Travel down the A9 and its not just run off. The conifer foliage is burnt on the side nearest the carriageway by the salt thrown up by vehicles as a spray.

[JaySmith]

FC did a paper years ago which I looked at when doing an assignment

https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/documents/6572/FCBU101.pdf

Think there is a bit in Diagnosis of Ill health in trees as well but haven’t got the book to hand

[5 shires]

5 minutes ago, JaySmith said:

FC did a paper years ago which I looked at when doing an assignment

https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/documents/6572/FCBU101.pdf

Think there is a bit in Diagnosis of Ill health in trees as well but haven’t got the book to hand

Very interesting read even the first few pages are an eye opener....funny how something like that has never occurred to me before yet seems so relevant with the state of the world at the moment.

[JaySmith]

It’s heavy going that document! When I did my L4 there was a small section on road salt and the negative affects that it causes. Most people see the conifer hedge that has brown foliage at low level from road salt spray but the damage it can do to large mature trees is also a consideration. This was another doc I used, it also has a list of species which are tolerant and those that aren’t which is interesting and should maybe be looked at when specifying tree planting adjacent to the highway as we seem to be gritting more and more nowadays

https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/documents/4974/pathology_note11.pdf

[JaySmith]

Tree roots in the built environment by John Roberts, Nick Jackson & Mark Smith has a section on de icing salt (p214 - p220) if you have that book as well