Post #3837758

2026-07-15 17:17 UTC

Please don't do this. I'm sure the person who poured salt all over their pavement weeds thought they were being more ecologically friendly than using weedkiller, but salt poisons the soil so nothing can grow in it for decades which is why ancient armies quite literally salted the fields of their enemies to starve them. If it ever rains again this will wash into the drains and into the streams, and in the meantime people walking through this volume of salt will tread it into any soil they proceed to. Salt runoff from road gritting in winter is a big enough ecological problem as it is, we don't need to be adding to it.

Replies (1)

@afewbugs@social.coop 2026-07-15 17:18

If you want to get rid of pavement weeds and you don't mind killing the invertebrates in the soil, as this salt will have done, use boiling water which at least will cool and not stay there permanently. Or pull them up. Or learn to identify them - there are some great resources on learning to identify and appreciate pavement weeds here https://morethanweeds.co.uk/ Invertebrates are struggling enough as the plants they depend on wither in this heatwave, can we not just leave them whatever scraps remain just this once? Honestly as these relentless, climate collapse induced heatwaves kill people, kill wildlife and set fire to the landscapes I love I'm feeling increasing despair at how indifferent most people seem to be to their environmental impact. But I feel particularly depressed to see things like this that probably stemmed from a deeply misinformed attempt to help.

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