Soil pH in Addison, VT: Lime or Sulfur?
Typical topsoil pH in Addison, VT
Typical topsoil in Addison, VT is pH 5.55, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 11.5 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.
What Addison needs, by plant
- Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
- Just outside, test first: blueberries (off by 0), blue hydrangeas (off by 0).
- Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 11.5 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; vegetable garden 11.5 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; tomatoes 11.5 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; roses 11.5 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; pink hydrangeas 8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.
What to do next
If your test confirms pH near 5.55, spread about 115 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 3 doses, ideally in fall.
How mixed the soil is
Of the 460,922 surveyed acres in Addison, VT, 47% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 40% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 14% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4 to 7.6, a spread of 3.6 units across 403 soil components. No single class covers 60% of the county, so two gardens a few miles apart here can need opposite treatments. Test your own bed.
Clay, organic matter and rates
Topsoil here averages 26.7% clay and 7.24% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. At 7.24% organic matter the soil buffers like a heavier one, which pushes it into the clay bracket. Moving it one pH unit takes about 11.5 lb of lime or 3.4 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 2% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).
Addison against the rest of Vermont
pH 5.55 is 0.26 above the Vermont median of 5.29. 10 of 14 Vermont counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.
Closest in pH within the state: Orleans (5.27), Rutland (5.3), Chittenden (5.31), Caledonia (5.37), Franklin (5.58), Orange (5.7), Grand Isle (6.51).
The range in Vermont runs from Windham at 4.81 to Grand Isle at 6.51; Addison sits 44% of the way up.