What forms are ice melters available in and what is best?
Ice melters or de-icers are available in pellets, granules, flakes or liquid, with granules being the best format. Flaked forms are best avoided for two reasons: first, they do not penetrate as deep as granules, and therefore don’t liquefy beneath the surface of the ice, and secondly, they generally do not apply well in windy conditions. Pellets also have been known to have this problem. Some people have mentioned that pellets, being rounded, tend to roll away under stormy conditions. People have been using sodium chloride – more commonly known as salt – to meet their icemelting needs for years. Salt has an enormously negative effect on the environment around us, as it is toxic to vegetation and damaging to the soil. Salt has no nutrimental value. The general impact of salt on crops or vegetation is to reduce growth. It does this by promoting high pH values that cause micronutrient deficiencies. Sodium (Na) or salt is not only harmful to plant life, but also to the very soil that susta
