Soil pH in Broome, NY: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Broome, NY

Typical topsoil in Broome, NY is pH 5.9, just outside the 6-7 range for vegetable garden. Test first; it may need nothing.

What Broome needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Just outside, test first: lawn (cool-season grass) (off by 0.1), vegetable garden (off by 0.1), roses (off by 0.1), pink hydrangeas (off by 0.1).
• Lime: tomatoes 6.9 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.
• Sulfur: blueberries 3.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 2.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 5.9, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, potatoes, strawberries, roses, azaleas and rhododendrons, pink hydrangeas.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 434,034 surveyed acres in Broome, NY, 69% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 18% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 13% are strongly acidic (below 5.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4.5 to 6.8, a spread of 2.3 units across 151 soil components. 69% 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 15.7% clay and 5.53% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. At 5.53% organic matter the soil buffers like a heavier one, which pushes it into the clay bracket. Moving it one pH unit takes about 11.5 lb of lime or 3.4 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. None of the mapped components carry free carbonate.

Broome against the rest of New York

pH 5.9 is 0.13 above the New York median of 5.77. 38 of 62 New York counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Schenectady (5.85), Steuben (5.85), Schoharie (5.86), Tioga (5.87), Schuyler (5.9), Wyoming (5.91), Tompkins (5.99), Erie (6.02).

The range in New York runs from Hamilton at 4.72 to Kings at 7.15; Broome sits 49% of the way up.