Kim

Need Help everybody;
What is the safest way to nuetralize excessive salt in the ground without causing anymore damage to my plants. I have roses, King sagos, Iris', and grass in my front yard. The salt didn't come from the water, the food, or the fertilizer. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone

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Catch ya on the rebondKim

Richard

The standard response will be to add Gypsum, but this is a poor choice for your soils in Riverside, CA. How do you know you have excessive salts and what kind are they?

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sbl

Here you just wait a few weeks--rain will wash it away. What type soil, what is the pH?

momoese

Kim, where I used to work we had a large storage area that was bare soil/weeds. The boss used to have us throw rock salt all over the ground to help kill the weeds.

Richard

Mitchell, that explains a lot about you!

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momoese

Yeah, I wasn't a fan of that system. I did get him to stop but I had to mow the weeds myself on my own time.

turtile

Do you know if your soil is saline, sodic (high sodium concentration) or both?

If your soil is saline, you can heavily water the soil and keep it moist. It is important that you fix up the soil if you have any drainage problems (which could be part of the problem). You wouldn't want to add gypsum in this case as it may add to the problem.

For sodic, you can add anything that will displace sodium on the CEC. If you don't want to add calcium (gypsum) you can also use something with magnesium such as Epsom salts.

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bencelest

I am confused with the question.
The salts I know came from the fertilizers you put on the plants or common table salt. Where else can it come from if not from water, food or fertilizer??

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jmoore

Salt can occur naturally. It can be as a rock (rock salt), it can bubble up to the surface from springs containing brine under ground. Excessive watering can lead to salt trapped underground to leach up to the surface ruining your arable land, Austalia had a big problem with this due to excessive irrigation when growing rice. Ruined massive amounts of land.

Australia like the US had inland seas in prehistoric times when these seas evaporated it left the salt behind.

As for the solution. I'm not sure there is one. Grow salt tolerant plants I guess.

Richard

Other possibilities include: surface soil, upwelling from subsurface soils, runoff during rain season, flux from neighboring swimming pool discharge, residues from pesticides/herbicides.

It's not clear that Kim actually has excessive salt in the soil.

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bencelest

Oh, I guess I learn something new today.
I never experience them from all the places I lived before.

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Kim

Thank you for all the feed back everyone.

RICHARD: The standard response will be to add Gypsum, but this is a poor choice for your soils in Riverside, CA. How do you know you have excessive salts and what kind are they?

It's a long story covering a 2 1/2 year period and will be mentioned in my next novel when it gets published. But simply put, recently I found rock salt and an empty Morton iodized salt container in my front yard when I went to do my yard work, and my front yard is looking very sick. The top 2 inches of my iris' are brown, my roses aren't producing blooms, my yard is begining to yellow, and my King Sago's are browning. I just hope I can save everything especial my prize twin head King Sago I use as my avitar.

Richard: I don't know if I mentioned it to you but when I became a member at bananas.org I PM you about a Richard my son knows and I have meet him. He is a terrific person and very educated in the world of plants.

Again I just want to than everyone for their feed back.

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Catch ya on the rebondKim

Bananaman88

Kim,

So you're saying someone spread salt on your landscape purposely? That's terrible! Who did you make mad?

sbl

If I understand correctly and it is table salt that someone put on your yard, I think water leaching would be effective. Maybe you can even dig a small hole near the affected spot and let water slowly spray on the affected area and accumulate in the hole--that water could then be removed and should contain a fair amount of the salt. Table salt (sodium chloride) is highly soluble and does not bind to soil very strongly.

Kim

Bananaman88 and sbl;
Yes it was deliberate. And in honoring my fathers wishes (RIP 06/02/09), my sisters greed took over her common sense in Feburary 2007 and she flipped out. I only found pieces of the bag of rock salt and only one container of morton salt. It's very possible more than one container was spread over my yard. My walkways were covered, I thought I was walking on sand at first glance. So I mowed my yard to pick up as much as I could but the sprinklers had already soaked the salt in. I got most of the rock salt up but I still believe it was too late. It's not in my character to get anyone mad, but I do stick to the truths and state the facts and if that upsets somebody by their own interpretation of the facts, it's out of my control. The proposed title of my novel should be, "A Caregivers Nightmare" based on the facts over the last 2 1/2 years but might have to be written as fiction depending on how the police handle the reports and if it ends up going into court. Thanks for your concern.

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Catch ya on the rebondKim

Richard

Kim,
I would excavate the plants you care about and put them in 25 gallon containers. How many containers will you need?

Flushing with water will help the soil recover. If you are interested, I can give you a couple quarts of a commercial product with a surfactant that should speed up the remediation: Soil Penetrant E-Z Wet 26% Sprayable Formula

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Patty in Wisc

Richard, I don't think Jarred would appreciate you promoting your GrowMore products here for your benefit. It is not your product, but you get a commision. You are not s'posed to do that here (as you've been told) & there are other products that are better or same. You are always leading to links to 'Grow More' & I think they suck! Sorry, but maybe it's because you promote them too much for your benefit.

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

Kim

Richard; Thank you for your offer and advice. It is very much appreciated.
I have containers for my 6 rose bushes. My 12 varieties of Iries can be dug up, they are due for splitting. My 6 King Sagos (Cycads) 3@3 feet tall, 1@4 feet tall, 1@6 feet tall and my 7 foot prize twin head king in my avitar, are the concern. Time and finances are a big factor for now. Before I allow you or anybody to go out of their way for me, I will check to see what I can get a hold of locally. I greatly appreciate your offer and I will keep in touch. Thank You Richard.

Patty;
Please don't take this the wrong way because I do understand your position in the matter of product promotion. But I'm open to any suggestion and looking for solutions because I'm trying to save my Kings from further contamination.

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Catch ya on the rebondKim

Richard

I don't get a commission, and I'm offering them to her free.

Nope.

I thought you were mad because the free plants I sent you died.

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Kim

sbl

The soil is very sandy. I'm a stone throw away from the Santa Ana River and I don't know the pH level. The salt was spread over a 400 square foot area--not a small spot.

momoese
I'm not looking to make a bare spot or kill weeds

turtile
My yard never was before. 4 years ago my father and I had completely dug up and rejuvenated our front yard.

These responses may be a little late but I want everyone to know I appreciate all the feed back. Thank You.

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Catch ya on the rebondKim