Soil pH in Bolivar, MS: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Bolivar, MS

Typical topsoil in Bolivar, MS is pH 6.28, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Bolivar needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 2.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 4.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 3.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 3.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.28, 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 524,042 surveyed acres in Bolivar, MS, 63% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 29% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 9% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 5 to 7.3, a spread of 2.3 units across 138 soil components. 63% 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 41.5% clay and 1.66% 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. 2% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Bolivar against the rest of Mississippi

pH 6.28 is 1.13 above the Mississippi median of 5.15. 78 of 82 Mississippi counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Yazoo (5.79), Warren (5.92), Tunica (5.95), Coahoma (6.1), Sharkey (6.33), Washington (6.34), Issaquena (6.73).

The range in Mississippi runs from Hancock at 4.85 to Issaquena at 6.73; Bolivar sits 76% of the way up.