Dry Molasses and Salt

[Smallaxe]

I have a source of dried molasses in 50# bags that are half the price of 50# of sugar... It lists salt in the ingredients, but the guy doesn't think it is much...

I have one lawn I would like to jump start with a high dose of molasses this Spring and aerate and compost in May/June as a strategy for dog spot control...

Will the salts in the molasses eventually wash away, or dissapate?
(The gov't claims that road salt is in the well water, and ditchlines never seem to die or held back in any way from the salts, after the Spring rains...)

Should I be concerned???

[Smallaxe]

My inclination is that salts do dissapate and become a 'nonissue' over time even if they do get into the well water, because the salt content of the oceans are constantly increasing... So whether the salt goes through th cattle first then into the agri-soils or through the grass leaf mulch into the grassy soils, it is all headed for the Oceans, regardless...

It is a tough question, becuz no one has a definitive answer, even our "Town Board of Supervisors"... they couldn't handle storage, of the salty gravel for winter roads...

[JDUtah]

Or, depending on what salt it is.. the ions are used by the plants and microbes as food.

[Smallaxe]

Thanks JD,

I've often wondered about that...

It's salt in cattle feed, so it should be good for microbes too...

I still wonder if the excess goes, up or down...

[Kiril]

NaCl is generally not good for soils, fresh water, or plants. Look up sodic soils.

[Smallaxe]

Under sodic soils, I did learn, as suspectted, that high water tables can create sodic/saline soil surfaces and actually appears white, sometimes black and powdery, Which means...

It goes up , not down...

[DUSTYCEDAR]

try it on an area and test the soil befor and after
see what u get

[Leo the Landscaper]

Originally Posted by Smallaxe

Under sodic soils, I did learn, as suspectted, that high water tables can create sodic/saline soil surfaces and actually appears white, sometimes black and powdery, Which means...

It goes up , not down...

It depends which way the water goes:

Water goes up (evaporates) salt goes up and is left behind at the surface.

Water goes down and drains away so does salt.

[Smallaxe]

Originally Posted by Leo the Landscaper

It depends which way the water goes:

Water goes up (evaporates) salt goes up and is left behind at the surface.

Water goes down and drains away so does salt.

That does make sense... Then it is possible for salt to move downward through the various layes of soil, by staying in solution...

It is one thing that doesn't get filtered out by the soil... Kind of like aldicarb...