Soil pH in Cayuga, NY: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Cayuga, NY

Typical topsoil in Cayuga, NY is pH 6.27, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Cayuga needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 1.8 lb/100 sq ft; blueberries 3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.27, 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 370,877 surveyed acres in Cayuga, NY, 62% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 31% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 7% are strongly acidic (below 5.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4.5 to 7.3, a spread of 2.8 units across 340 soil components. 62% 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 18.8% clay and 4.61% 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.

Cayuga against the rest of New York

pH 6.27 is 0.5 above the New York median of 5.77. 49 of 62 New York counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Jefferson (6.16), Livingston (6.19), Madison (6.25), Monroe (6.25), Onondaga (6.27), Orleans (6.28), Montgomery (6.29), Richmond (6.31).

The range in New York runs from Hamilton at 4.72 to Kings at 7.15; Cayuga sits 64% of the way up.