Soil pH in Botetourt, VA: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Botetourt, VA

Typical topsoil in Botetourt, VA is pH 5.27, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 8.4 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Botetourt needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas.
• Just outside, test first: strawberries (off by 0.2).
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; vegetable garden 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; tomatoes 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.27, spread about 84 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 219,459 surveyed acres in Botetourt, VA, 81% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 11% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 8% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4 to 7.9, a spread of 3.9 units across 188 soil components. 81% 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 19.8% clay and 2.09% 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. 0% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Botetourt against the rest of Virginia

pH 5.27 is right at the Virginia median of 5.24. 73 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: Charlottesville City (5.25), Bland (5.26), Caroline (5.26), Portsmouth City (5.26), Giles (5.28), Rockingham (5.28), Dinwiddie (5.29), Madison (5.29).

The range in Virginia runs from Newport News City at 4.76 to Poquoson City at 6.36; Botetourt sits 32% of the way up.