Soil pH in Albany, NY: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Albany, NY

Typical topsoil in Albany, NY is pH 5.84, just outside the 6-7 range for vegetable garden. Test first; it may need nothing.

What Albany needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Just outside, test first: lawn (cool-season grass) (off by 0.2), vegetable garden (off by 0.2), roses (off by 0.2), pink hydrangeas (off by 0.2).
• Lime: tomatoes 8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.
• Sulfur: blueberries 2.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 2 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 5.84, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, potatoes, strawberries, roses, azaleas and rhododendrons, pink hydrangeas.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 264,284 surveyed acres in Albany, NY, 44% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 33% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 23% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.5 to 7.2, a spread of 2.7 units across 183 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 15.2% clay and 5.01% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. At 5.01% 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. 4% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Albany against the rest of New York

pH 5.84 is 0.07 above the New York median of 5.77. 33 of 62 New York counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Cortland (5.72), Otsego (5.72), Chemung (5.82), Chenango (5.82), Schenectady (5.85), Steuben (5.85), Schoharie (5.86), Tioga (5.87).

The range in New York runs from Hamilton at 4.72 to Kings at 7.15; Albany sits 46% of the way up.