Soil pH in Bowie, TX: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Bowie, TX

Typical topsoil in Bowie, TX is pH 5.51, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 7 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Bowie needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Just outside, test first: blueberries (off by 0), blue hydrangeas (off by 0).
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; vegetable garden 7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; tomatoes 7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 4.9 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.51, spread about 70 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 490,151 surveyed acres in Bowie, TX, 48% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 38% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 7% are alkaline (above 7.3), 7% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.3 to 8.2, a spread of 3.9 units across 63 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 21.3% clay and 1.72% 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. 6% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Bowie against the rest of Texas

pH 5.51 is 1.92 below the Texas median of 7.43. 18 of 254 Texas counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Panola (5.39), Gregg (5.41), Shelby (5.41), Upshur (5.48), Sabine (5.53), San Augustine (5.57), Wood (5.58), Cherokee (5.6).

The range in Texas runs from Hardin at 4.64 to Upton at 8.19; Bowie sits 25% of the way up.