Soil pH in Cattaraugus, NY: Lime or Sulfur?
Typical topsoil pH in Cattaraugus, NY
Typical topsoil in Cattaraugus, NY is pH 5.51, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 11.5 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.
What Cattaraugus needs, by plant
- Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
- Just outside, test first: blueberries (off by 0), blue hydrangeas (off by 0).
- Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 11.5 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; vegetable garden 11.5 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; tomatoes 11.5 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; roses 11.5 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; pink hydrangeas 8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.
What to do next
If your test confirms pH near 5.51, spread about 115 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 708,189 surveyed acres in Cattaraugus, NY, 57% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 32% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 11% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.1 to 7, a spread of 2.9 units across 434 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 18.7% clay and 5.22% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. At 5.22% 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. 3% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).
Cattaraugus against the rest of New York
pH 5.51 is 0.26 below the New York median of 5.77. 21 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: Clinton (5.34), Ulster (5.43), Columbia (5.46), Rensselaer (5.47), Washington (5.51), Dutchess (5.56), Orange (5.6), Allegany (5.61).
The range in New York runs from Hamilton at 4.72 to Kings at 7.15; Cattaraugus sits 33% of the way up.