Soil pH in Bergen, NJ: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Bergen, NJ

Typical topsoil in Bergen, NJ is pH 5, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 10.5 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Bergen needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas.
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 10.5 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; vegetable garden 10.5 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; tomatoes 10.5 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; strawberries 7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 10.5 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; pink hydrangeas 9.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5, spread about 105 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 3 doses, ideally in fall.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 114,216 surveyed acres in Bergen, NJ, 86% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 12% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 2% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 3.7 to 7, a spread of 3.3 units across 181 soil components. 86% 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 10.4% clay and 2.61% 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.

Bergen against the rest of New Jersey

pH 5 is 0.17 below the New Jersey median of 5.17. 5 of 21 New Jersey counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Essex (4.69), Passaic (4.89), Monmouth (4.95), Sussex (4.99), Camden (5), Cape May (5), Middlesex (5.03), Union (5.14).

The range in New Jersey runs from Burlington at 4.68 to Hudson at 6.98; Bergen sits 14% of the way up.