Signs of Salt Damage on Your Lawn and Why They Happen

Visible distinction between healthy lawn and damaged grass.

When salt from de-icing products builds up in the soil, it can wreak havoc on your grass. Telltale signs of salt damage on your lawn include brown or discolored grass, visible patches of dead or thinning turf, delayed spring green-up, a wilted or dry appearance, and white crusty residue on the soil surface. 

These signs are usually more prominent along the edges of sidewalks, driveways, and roads, where the salt accumulates as snow melts and salty water runs off these surfaces and soaks into the soil. 

What to Look For if You’re Worried About Salt on Your Lawn

Salt damage on grass shows up in the following ways:

  • Brown or discolored patches of grass. When standing on your driveway or sidewalk, you’ll see strips of brown or weirdly yellowish grass along the edges of the concrete. Note: Many things can cause brown spots, so run through this list to make sure you aren’t dealing with other issues like grubs or a common fungal disease
  • Patches of dead or thinning turf. 
  • Delayed spring green up means that once temps start to climb in the spring, the grass next to concrete areas will stay brown and dormant longer than the rest of the lawn.
  • Areas where the grass looks wilted or dry. It might also feel crunchy if you walk on it, or doesn’t spring back after you walk on it.

If you’re using salt on your concrete, it’s important to look for signs of damage well beyond the spring thaw. 

According to Mandy Bayer and Geoffrey Njue of the UMass Extension Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry Program, “Damage from salt in the soil can be delayed, with plant symptoms not appearing until summer or even years later. Symptoms may also become evident during periods of hot, dry weather.”

How Salt Damages Your Lawn

ice melt rock salt is being spread on your walking path to melt the snow and ice
Photo Credit: J.A. / Adobe Stock Free / License

Most of us know what brown grass looks like, and we can visibly see when our lawn is thinning or starting to die. So, there isn’t a need to go into drawn-out explanations about what to look for if you’re concerned your grass was damaged from putting salt on your sidewalk or driveway. 

Why you see the specific signs like discolored grass or a wilted appearance is a little tricker. Many symptoms are interrelated, and more than one salt-related issue can trigger the same symptom. For instance, I can’t say sodium toxicity only causes your grass to turn brown. While it is one of the reasons your grass may brown, dehydration may also cause discoloration, and both can inhibit growth.

Ultimately, salt in the soil causes problems because your grass doesn’t need sodium for growth or other metabolic functions. Once in the soil, sodium can cause adverse nutrient imbalances within the grass and inhibit roots from taking up water and nutrients.

Salt damages your lawn in four ways: dehydration from osmosis, sodium toxicity, nutrient deficiencies, and soil compaction

Salt Pulls Water from Inside the Grass

Too much salt in the soil disrupts hydration within your grass through osmosis, a process where water moves from an area of low solute concentration to a higher solute concentration. Where there is too much salt in the soil, there is a higher solute concentration in the ground than in the plant. Water moves from the roots back into the soil to dilute the concentration and equalize both areas, causing “physiological drought“ and stress in your grass.

This lack of water impacts photosynthesis and growth, causing your grass to turn colors and thin.

Osmosis happens naturally, and your grass cannot stop it. As long as the salt concentration is higher in the soil, plants will struggle to absorb water, even if plenty is available. 

Roots Take in Sodium Before Other Nutrients

Excess sodium in the soil disrupts plant uptake of essential nutrients like potassium and calcium, causing nutrient deficiencies. Sodium ions are smaller and more mobile in the soil solution. They move more quickly to the plant roots and enter cells more efficiently. 

Deficiencies of the slightly larger ions can cause discoloration and browning. Potassium is involved in chlorophyll production, so plants turn yellow when photosynthesis is impaired. Impaired photosynthesis results in less growth and thinning grass. Calcium helps maintain cell walls; when they break down, they turn brown. 

Sodium and Chloride Interfere with Normal Growth Processes

Sodium and chloride found in many deicing products are toxic to grass cells at high concentrations. They damage cells and interfere with photosynthesis and other cellular processes, causing your grass to lose its green luster, turn brown, and stop growing.

Most plants start showing problems when sodium reaches 70 milligrams per liter of water, or approximately 5% of the plant tissue concentration. They’ll show toxicity symptoms when chloride exceeds 350 milligrams per liter in the soil solution.

Salt Breaks Down the Soil

Sodium also disrupts the interaction between soil particles, affecting soil structure. When calcium and magnesium are attached to sand, silt, or clay in the soil, they help the particles bind together to form aggregates. Sodium causes soil particles — especially clay — to repel each other, breaking the aggregates into finer particles. When the aggregates are dispersed, these finer particles pack tightly together, leading to compaction when wet.

When soil is compacted, water cannot move through the surface layer to get into the root zone.

Salt Weakens Plant Defenses

Lastly, excess sodium in the grass acts as a mild stressor, which can open up your lawn to attacks from other problems. This stress typically occurs because the plant is taking in more sodium, and less essential nutrients, weakening cell walls and inhibiting its ability to synthesize defensive compounds.

FAQs About Salt Damage on Lawn

Can salt damage on grass be fixed?

To repair salt damage on your lawn, you’ll want to use water and gypsum to move any residual salt out of the root zone and fix any bare spots that occurred by topdressing and overseeding.

Whether or not you fix it depends on the extent of the problem. 

Per Jaime Staufenbeil, Milorganite Agronomist, “If the damage is minimal—only a few inches of turf boarding driveways and walks—I recommend leaving it alone. Spring rain should wash away the salt. Healthy lawns will fill in the damaged areas.”

Is there a way to prevent salt damage on your lawn?

The best way to prevent salt damage is to be mindful of your deicer use. Some prevention methods include choosing less harmful products, applying sparingly and only when necessary, creating gravel buffers along concrete to protect the grass, redirecting runoff away from the lawn, and flushing the soil regularly.

Will grass grow back after salt damage?

Whether or not grass grows back depends on the severity of the salt damage and the type of grass you have. If there is only minor damage, your grass will likely grow back. It’s harder for grass to recover after severe damage, especially if the lawn experienced significant sodium toxicity. It’s also harder for grasses to recover if they aren’t salt tolerant. 

Removing as much residual salt as possible is the best way to improve soil health and encourage your grass to regrow.

My Tip: For me, leaching the salt out of the soil is one of the best ways to get my grass growing when I’m concerned about salt damage. Come spring, I typically water the entire spot until water starts pooling on the soil. Allow it to soak in, and repeat three to four times. I’m not usually one to promote overwatering as I technically live in the desert, but in this case, water, water, and water some more!

Need Help With Your Lawn?

If you live in a climate where the winter air hurts your face and you’re using traditional deicing products on your sidewalk or driveway, there’s always a chance you’ll face salt damage to your lawn. Salt damage to your grass doesn’t have to be a life sentence for your yard — there are plenty of ways to repair salt damage.

However, if the damage is irreparable, consider hiring a local pro to fix your lawn! Whether you need help with soil testing to determine if it is salt problems or fixing bare spots by overseeding salt-tolerant grasses, they can help get your lawn looking its best.

Main Image Credit: Lost_in_the_Midwest / Adobe Stock

Amanda Shiffler

Amanda Shiffler

Most comfortable with soil under her fingernails, Amanda has an enthusiasm for gardening, agriculture, and all things plant-related. With a master's degree in agriculture and more than a decade of experience gardening and tending to her lawn, she combines her plant knowledge and knack for writing to share what she knows and loves.