Observation: During the winter, you spread salt daily on your driveway to melt the snow. In the springtime, when the lawn begins to grow, you notice that there is no grass growing for about 3 inches from the driveway. Furthermore, the grass seems to be growing more slowly up to about 1 foot from the driveway.
Question: Might grass growth be inhibited by salt?
My hypothesis is that the grass growth is being inhibited by salt.
An average winter season last approximately five or six months and depending on your region of the world, it depends on the amount of rain or snow and freezing temperatures. If your region has a combination of freezing temperatures and precipitation you will use salt to melt the snow and ice. If this is the case then you will have issues growing grass in the areas around the driveway.
Rock salt or table salt will melt ice creating a combination of water and or saltwater. I would use water to help out flowers, grass and other plants grow. In the winter, farmers come through to clear the snow and put a salt chemical mix on the streets which secretes and either falls into drainage ditches or becomes absorbed by our soil. Through the process the osmosis the saltwater mix is moved through permeable membranes of the soil. The saltwater mix is absorbed by the roots of our grass and plants. Certain plants will benefit some growth with low salt concentration. However, with grass and other non-tolerant plants the salt concentration deprives the moisture and water from the roots. Through the roots and the cells of the grass and the plants being robbed of the water, the results are irreversible death of the area of the grass and plants.
The Essay on Water Source
Flagstaff has more then just one or even two sources of water. This city has five sources of water to draw from. Even though some of these sources are not used to there full potential. Upper Lake Mary and the Lake Mary aquifer are one of the more widely known of the five. Lake Mary and its aquifer are replenished by snowmelt mostly. The inner basin aquifer, in the mountains, is another source that ...
To design the experiment I would design a walkway with a line of freshly grown grass and put ice on it then apply table salt or rock salt and watch how the secretion of the saltwater mixture affects the immediate grass that lines the area of the walkway.
