Soil pH in Caledonia, VT: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Caledonia, VT

Typical topsoil in Caledonia, VT is pH 5.37, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 7.7 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Caledonia needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas.
• Just outside, test first: strawberries (off by 0.1).
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 7.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; vegetable garden 7.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; tomatoes 7.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 7.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 6.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.37, spread about 77 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 409,084 surveyed acres in Caledonia, VT, 61% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 33% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 7% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4 to 7, a spread of 3 units across 710 soil components. 61% 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 6% clay and 6.29% organic matter, which this site treats as loam. At 6.29% organic matter the soil buffers like a heavier one, which pushes it into the loam bracket. 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.

Caledonia against the rest of Vermont

pH 5.37 is 0.08 above the Vermont median of 5.29. 9 of 14 Vermont counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Bennington (5.2), Orleans (5.27), Rutland (5.3), Chittenden (5.31), Addison (5.55), Franklin (5.58), Orange (5.7), Grand Isle (6.51).

The range in Vermont runs from Windham at 4.81 to Grand Isle at 6.51; Caledonia sits 33% of the way up.