EFFECT ON VEGETATION
Under typical application conditions, calcium chloride will not damage grass or vegetation adjacent to a road where deicer has been applied. As with fertilizer and any other deicer, it is possible for grass to be damaged if calcium chloride is over-applied or large quantities are directly applied to the grass or vegetation. Roadside damage to conifers caused by contact with chloride-containing mist from high speed tire action is a potential issue with highway applications of any chloride-based deicer.
A 1996 study, “The Effects of Deicing Chemicals on Turfgrass”,1 by the Horticulture Department of Iowa State University compared the effects of urea/calcium chloride blends, potassium chloride, urea, rock salt, magnesium chloride hexahydrate, and calcium chloride pellets on Kentucky bluegrass. After a winter season of deicer application, the study showed that calcium chloride pellets were generally less damaging to existing turf than almost all the other deicers and yielded better re-seeding germination rates the following fall. Only a blend of urea and calcium chloride fared better – and urea alone did worse. For additional information, see: A Review of Deicers and their Effect on Vegetation.
1 The Effects of Deicing Chemicals on Turfgrass, D. Minner and B. Bingaman, Iowa State University, 1996.