Soil pH in Ascension, LA: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Ascension, LA

Typical topsoil in Ascension, LA is pH 6.44, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Ascension needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 3.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 4.8 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 4.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; blue hydrangeas 4.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.44, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 171,821 surveyed acres in Ascension, LA, 64% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 28% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 8% are strongly acidic (below 5.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4.1 to 7.3, a spread of 3.2 units across 65 soil components. 64% of the land falls in one class, so the county figure is a fair first guess for most yards here.

Clay, organic matter and rates

Topsoil here averages 47.3% clay and 3.96% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. Moving it one pH unit takes about 11.5 lb of lime or 3.4 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 16% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Ascension against the rest of Louisiana

pH 6.44 is 0.9 above the Louisiana median of 5.54. 51 of 64 Louisiana counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: St. Martin (6.33), Jefferson (6.36), Iberville (6.38), Terrebonne (6.41), Assumption (6.44), Avoyelles (6.44), Iberia (6.49), St. Mary (6.52).

The range in Louisiana runs from Allen at 4.88 to St. Bernard at 7; Ascension sits 74% of the way up.