Salting the Ground

[rary]

I have cleared the first bed that filled with tree roots, as I have posted previously, I am filling builders bags with the soil to use as raised beds while thinking on the problem with the roots I wondered if salting the ground below the bags would stop the tree roots from coming into the area, I have the choice of granulated salt like table salt or washing machine salt, or using rock salt plus I could mix the fine salt with sand and put that below the bag, could this work or am I wasting my time

[Penellype]

I wouldn't add large quantities of salt as most plants don't like it. If its at the top of the slope it could wash down onto the lower parts and damage your crops there.

[burnie]

Sounds dodgy to me Rary, I have a sort of similar situation with a large tree next door and my own apple trees. So I put down a double layer of membrane and then built my raised beds from railway sleepers, nearly at the end of season 2 and no probs at the moment.

[Snoop Puss]

I'm with Penellype. You could be making long-term problems for yourself.

[ESBkevin]

As gardeners we feed the soil to improve it. the life of the soil migrates from one area to another and hopefully in the desired direction. Deliberately contaminating the soil seems to go against all that is holy to me. Possibly finding if your trees like acid or alcaline conditions and changing the acidity a lot deep down? It won't kill anything but will dissuade tree root growth (perhaps)?

[veggiechicken]

How about some vinegar?
Its a natural accompaniment to salt on wood chips.

What sort of trees are they, rary? There may be some soil conditions that they are averse too.

[Jungle Jane]

For a more permanent thing has anyone got any spare paving slabs?

[Mitzi]

Don't salt the ground! It probably won't affect the tree roots much, but you won't be able to grow anything else there.

[rary]

The base that the bags will be sitting on is a foot below ground level and the trees, ash,elder, oak, hawthorn and cherry are two to three feet beyond that at the same level as the ground, any salt that I put down is well away from any of my plants and any salt that I would use I reckon would sink down the way if it gets dissolved with water, and I was not thinking of saturating the ground with salt, but your comments give me something to think about, so thanks for them

[Snadger]

Salting the ground would kill the roots. If the roots die, the trees die! Do you really want that to happen?

[rary]

I have bought weed membrane that will protect the bags from the Sun and hopefully keep the tree roots out, as I think they need an opening rather bursting through into the soil, so I won't be using salt to stop them