Soil pH in Beaufort, SC: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Beaufort, SC

Typical topsoil in Beaufort, SC is pH 5.92, just outside the 6-7 range for vegetable garden. Test first; it may need nothing.

What Beaufort needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Just outside, test first: lawn (cool-season grass) (off by 0.1), vegetable garden (off by 0.1), roses (off by 0.1), pink hydrangeas (off by 0.1).
• Lime: tomatoes 6.9 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.
• Sulfur: blueberries 3.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 2.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 5.92, 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 368,559 surveyed acres in Beaufort, SC, 53% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 39% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 8% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4.2 to 7.3, a spread of 3.1 units across 55 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 17.6% clay and 6.97% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. At 6.97% 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. None of the mapped components carry free carbonate.

Beaufort against the rest of South Carolina

pH 5.92 is 0.62 above the South Carolina median of 5.3. 45 of 46 South Carolina counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: York (5.59), Abbeville (5.61), Chester (5.65), Union (5.68).