Soil pH in Bedford City, VA: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Bedford City, VA

Typical topsoil in Bedford City, VA is pH 5.78, just outside the 6-7 range for vegetable garden. Test first; it may need nothing.

What Bedford City 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 4.9 lb/100 sq ft.
• Sulfur: blueberries 1.8 lb/100 sq ft; blue hydrangeas 1.2 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 5.78, 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 3,153 surveyed acres in Bedford City, VA, 57% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 25% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 18% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5 to 7, a spread of 2 units across 14 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 16% clay and 1.56% 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.

Bedford City against the rest of Virginia

pH 5.78 is 0.54 above the Virginia median of 5.24. 120 of 127 Virginia counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Clarke (5.66), Norfolk City (5.69), Halifax (5.72), Winchester City (5.73), Wise (5.82), South Boston City (5.82), Danville City (5.95), Fairfax City (6.28).

The range in Virginia runs from Newport News City at 4.76 to Poquoson City at 6.36; Bedford City sits 64% of the way up.