Soil pH in Brazos, TX: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Brazos, TX

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

What Brazos needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 1.8 lb/100 sq ft; blueberries 3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 2.3 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 315,488 surveyed acres in Brazos, TX, 50% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 33% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 12% are alkaline (above 7.3), 5% are strongly acidic (below 5.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4.9 to 7.9, a spread of 3 units across 85 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 20.3% clay and 1.32% 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. 13% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Brazos against the rest of Texas

pH 6.28 is 1.15 below the Texas median of 7.43. 47 of 254 Texas counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Henderson (6.08), Freestone (6.19), Grimes (6.23), Hopkins (6.25), Jackson (6.28), Lee (6.28), Robertson (6.37), Victoria (6.44).

The range in Texas runs from Hardin at 4.64 to Upton at 8.19; Brazos sits 46% of the way up.