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Salty soil groundcover?

19 years ago

I have what may be an unusual situation.

I am on a well and septic tank, but because the leach bed failed several years before I moved in, an aerobic septic system was installed. I have been told that you can not discharge water softener salt into one of these systems. So the softener has been discharging at the top of a north facing slope of a ravine beside my house.

I had noticed and been perplexed by the lack of growth in this area until I realized we have been salting the hill for years now. The large trees are still present so it is shady but not much undergrowth. There is a lot of exposed soil.

Assuming for now I can not move this discharge point. I am looking for salt tolerant plants to put in this spot. I have heard Red Buckeyes and Kentucky Coffeebean Trees are salt tolerant. But I do not know of any ground covers I can use. My first concern is erosion control. Any ideas are welcome.

Thanks Scott

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Comments (3)

westhighlandblue
19 years ago
The following plants are salt tolerant.

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Bearberry)
Erica spp. (Spring Heath)
Hemerocallis fulva (Daylillies)
Iberis sempervirens (Edging Candytuft))
Lotus Cornicielatus (Trefoil)
Potentilla (Shrubby Cinquefoil)
Symphoricarpos albus (Snowberry)
Vaccinum and cvs. (Blueberry/Cranberry
edlincoln
13 years ago
Bearberry is a great suggestion. salt tolerant groundcover, great for erosion control, native, has edible berries.

Other suggestions
Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis)
Creeping Juniper(Juniperus horizontalis)
Large Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon)
Beach Pea (Lathyrus japonicus)(Nitrogen fixer, lowers)
Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii)
Sweet Fern (Comptonia peregrina) (Nitrogen fixer).
American Beachgrass(Ammophila breviligulata)
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Comments (7)
Interestingly cotton is a fairly salt tollerant crop and is often grown in salty soils with salty irrigation water. The only solution is to leach the soil. This assumes of course that your soil will drain. It is neccesary to move the salts down out of the root zone, if the water backs up on a hard pan (which come from many centuries of salts being washed down and hardening up) and comes to the surface that won't help. It is likely that the irrigation water is fairly salty as well which means as you irrigate the salts will build back up (like in houseplants where to pot does not drain). Therefore you will have to overwater and leach the soil every so often. Gypsum is used when salty soils lose thier structure and water will no longer flow through them. Adding organic material will help maintain structure as well, but it will still be neccesary to leach the salts.
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If you do some research on the Internet, you'll find many lists of trees and shrubs for coastal areas, in addition to many good articles on the subject. Here is a link to "Trees and Shrubs that Tolerate Saline Soils and Salt Spray Drift" from the Virginia Cooperative Extension. There is also an excellent publication from US Fish and Wildlife that you may want to search for. Gardening in a coastal environment is challenging but that's part of the fun! Pam Here is a link that might be useful: Trees & Shrubs that Tolerate Saline Soils, Salt Spray Drift from Va Tech
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How about using gypsum at a high rate? The calcium in gypsum replaces the sodium bonded to the soil. Watering helps remove the sodium. Google: Hurricane sodic soil
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I may be mistaken, but I think the salt in Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate. It adds magnesium and sulfur and has a slight acidifying effect (but not as much as soil sulfur has). If your soil already has enough Mg in it, the additional Mg could impact the salinity, but I think the salinity in our soils comes more from other sources.
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dapjwy
13 years ago
Just for information, I don't think Lotus Cornicielatus (Trefoil) is native here.

...but thanks for the suggestions. I love rocky outcroppings with low growers like many on your list.

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