Soil pH in Cabell, WV: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Cabell, WV

Typical topsoil in Cabell, WV is pH 5.01, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 10.5 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Cabell needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas.
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 10.5 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; vegetable garden 10.5 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; tomatoes 10.5 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; strawberries 7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 10.5 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; pink hydrangeas 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.01, spread about 105 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 3 doses, ideally in fall.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 141,666 surveyed acres in Cabell, WV, 86% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 8% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 6% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4.6 to 7, a spread of 2.4 units across 75 soil components. 86% 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 20.9% clay and 2.83% 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. None of the mapped components carry free carbonate.

Cabell against the rest of West Virginia

pH 5.01 is 0.14 below the West Virginia median of 5.15. 14 of 55 West 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: Fayette (4.98), Clay (4.99), Mercer (4.99), Braxton (5), Wayne (5.02), Pleasants (5.03), Tucker (5.03), Lincoln (5.06).

The range in West Virginia runs from McDowell at 4.42 to Marshall at 6.17; Cabell sits 34% of the way up.