Soil pH in Baltimore, MD: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Baltimore, MD

Typical topsoil in Baltimore, MD is pH 5.63, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 6.3 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Baltimore needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Just outside, test first: blueberries (off by 0.1), blue hydrangeas (off by 0.1).
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 6.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; vegetable garden 6.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; tomatoes 6.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 6.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 4.2 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.63, spread about 63 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 2 doses, ideally in fall.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 315,800 surveyed acres in Baltimore, MD, 53% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 33% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 14% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 3.9 to 7, a spread of 3.1 units across 519 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 18% clay and 2.53% organic matter, which this site treats as loam. Moving it one pH unit takes about 7 lb of lime or 2.3 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. None of the mapped components carry free carbonate.

Baltimore against the rest of Maryland

pH 5.63 is 0.14 above the Maryland median of 5.49. 16 of 24 Maryland counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Wicomico (5.5), Kent (5.53), Dorchester (5.6), Howard (5.62), Carroll (5.67), Frederick (5.67), Talbot (5.73), Caroline (5.76).

The range in Maryland runs from Charles at 4.47 to Washington at 6.01; Baltimore sits 75% of the way up.