Soil pH in Bossier, LA: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Bossier, LA

Typical topsoil in Bossier, LA is pH 5.66, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 5.6 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Bossier needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Just outside, test first: blueberries (off by 0.2), blue hydrangeas (off by 0.2).
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 5.6 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; vegetable garden 5.6 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; tomatoes 5.6 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 5.6 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 5.66, spread about 56 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 480,650 surveyed acres in Bossier, LA, 54% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 21% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 21% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 4% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.3 to 8, a spread of 3.7 units across 120 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 24.3% clay and 1.85% 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. 4% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Bossier against the rest of Louisiana

pH 5.66 is 0.12 above the Louisiana median of 5.54. 34 of 64 Louisiana counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Catahoula (5.52), Livingston (5.52), Lafayette (5.55), West Feliciana (5.6), Rapides (5.68), Caddo (5.75), Tensas (5.76), Natchitoches (5.77).

The range in Louisiana runs from Allen at 4.88 to St. Bernard at 7; Bossier sits 37% of the way up.