Soil pH in Broward, FL: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Broward, FL

Typical topsoil in Broward, FL is pH 6.25, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Broward needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 1 lb/100 sq ft; blueberries 1.6 lb/100 sq ft; azaleas and rhododendrons 1.2 lb/100 sq ft; blue hydrangeas 1.2 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.25, 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 213,399 surveyed acres in Broward, FL, 32% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 27% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 21% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 21% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.2 to 8.5, a spread of 4.3 units across 212 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 3.4% clay and 2.39% organic matter, which this site treats as sandy. Moving it one pH unit takes about 3 lb of lime or 1.2 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 5% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Broward against the rest of Florida

pH 6.25 is 1 above the Florida median of 5.25. 64 of 67 Florida counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Hendry (5.82), Pinellas (5.82), Sarasota (5.82), Brevard (6.04), Miami-Dade (6.91), Monroe (7.81).

The range in Florida runs from Franklin at 4.5 to Monroe at 7.81; Broward sits 53% of the way up.