Is ice melt safe for pets and landscaping?
No chloride ice melt is harmless to plants and animals. All of them can burn turf and shrubs along walks and irritate pets' paws, and what washes off reaches streams, where chloride harms aquatic life.
The practical fixes are spreaders with shields or drop spreaders along plantings, lower calibrated rates, and sweeping up leftover material after the storm.
Products marketed as pet-safe or plant-safe vary. The amount put down usually matters more than the label.
Go deeper
Sources
- Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Smart Salting for Parking Lots and Sidewalks Manual
- Minnesota Stormwater Manual: how salt works and deicing chemicals
More on salt & ice
- At what temperature does rock salt stop working?
- Why is my parking lot icy even though it was salted?
- Why did my contractor salt when it didn't snow?
- What is pre-treatment or brine, and is it worth it?
- Is sand better than salt for ice?
- Does salt damage concrete sidewalks?
- What is the difference between rock salt, calcium chloride and magnesium chloride?
- What ice melt is safe for pavers and natural stone?
From JRW Services LLC, commercial snow and ice management across Sussex, Passaic, Bergen, Morris and Warren counties, NJ. All answers
Need this handled at your property?
Call (973) 459-0074 or send the form, and we will walk the site and put it in writing before the first storm.