Japenese Andromeda- salt damaged?

[nugardener]

My wife and I are the new owners of a house that was previously owned by the president of our local garden club. We purchased the property last July and are currently being pleasantly suprised each day as new flowers bloom everywhere. We are both inexperianced as far as gardening goes and I'm afriad I made a mistake over the winter months that I need help correcting. Ice dams had built up in our newly installed gutters over the winter . In my attempt to correct the situation, I placed ice melt on the ice dam to prevent damaging the roof with an ax or hammer. What appears happened is the ice melt/water mixture that dripped off the roof damaged the japanese andromeda plants below. Some of the plant appears healthy while other parts of the same plant appear dead. What are my options on correcting the damage? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[wingdesigner]

Got any photos? I'd start by pruning back the obviously dead parts to live wood, and giving the whole plant a good shower if you haven't had any decent rain yet, to rinse off any remaining chemicals.

Next year better rig a tarp over the plant, or move it if you can. Also, try putting the ice melt in old pantyhose and tying the ends, it should help contain the crystals. That won't prevent contamination of the runoff, but might help some.

[nugardener]

Thanks Wing. I'll try that. I'll take a few before and after pruning photos and post them sometime this weekend.