Salt Is a Corrosive That Kills Grass
Abstract 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. Can salt have an effect on the growth of grass after placing it in your driveway during the winter to melt the snow? I will perform three different experiments to find the conclusion to this problem.
Salt is a Corrosive that Kills Grass
Salt absorbs the water from the grass and ends up killing the grass in the area the salt was place to melt the snow in the winter time. I will be measuring the grass growth each day, with the highest concentration of salt to see if it will harm the grass.
First, thing is to get all the equipment needed to perform this experiment. I will need three round flower pots 1 inch in diameter and height. I will be using ¼ cup of ammonium sulphate fertilizer and ½ cup of sodium chloride concentrations salt, rock salt (halite), and calcium magnesium acetate salt (Peeples, 1990). The last and final ingredient I will need is three different types of grass sod, St. Augustine grass, Bahia grass, and Buffalo grass cut in 5 inches in a square diameter. All three flower pots will be deep freezes to duplicate the winter conditions during the experiment. The grass samples will be then placed in three separate flower pots. Figure 1-1
Prepare the soil for planting new grass:
• Loosen the top soil from 2 to 3 inches.
• Soil that is in clumps break.
• Small clumps are acceptable don’t break up the top soil to fine.
• Fertilize the grass with Scott Starter Fertilizer
• Remove any dead grass.
Plant grass sod
• Place the sod evenly by hand in the middle of the pot.
Cover grass sod
• Lightly dig the grass sod so no more than 1inch of soil covers the grass sod.
In pot A I followed the steps for planting St. Augustine grass in figure
Salt is a Corrosive that Kills Grass
Salt absorbs the water from the grass and ends up killing the grass in the area the salt was place to melt the snow in the winter time. I will be measuring the grass growth each day, with the highest concentration of salt to see if it will harm the grass.
First, thing is to get all the equipment needed to perform this experiment. I will need three round flower pots 1 inch in diameter and height. I will be using ¼ cup of ammonium sulphate fertilizer and ½ cup of sodium chloride concentrations salt, rock salt (halite), and calcium magnesium acetate salt (Peeples, 1990). The last and final ingredient I will need is three different types of grass sod, St. Augustine grass, Bahia grass, and Buffalo grass cut in 5 inches in a square diameter. All three flower pots will be deep freezes to duplicate the winter conditions during the experiment. The grass samples will be then placed in three separate flower pots. Figure 1-1
Prepare the soil for planting new grass:
• Loosen the top soil from 2 to 3 inches.
• Soil that is in clumps break.
• Small clumps are acceptable don’t break up the top soil to fine.
• Fertilize the grass with Scott Starter Fertilizer
• Remove any dead grass.
Plant grass sod
• Place the sod evenly by hand in the middle of the pot.
Cover grass sod
• Lightly dig the grass sod so no more than 1inch of soil covers the grass sod.
In pot A I followed the steps for planting St. Augustine grass in figure
References: Peeples, B. (1990, November 9). Using salt to melt ice. Retrieved from http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/1998-11/910675052.Ch.r.html Unknown. (2011, October). Weekend gardener monthly web magazine. Retrieved from http://www.weekendgardener.net/grass-types/main.htm