Soil pH in Chesterfield, SC: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Chesterfield, SC

Typical topsoil in Chesterfield, SC is pH 5.28, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 3.6 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Chesterfield needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas.
• Just outside, test first: strawberries (off by 0.2).
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 3.6 lb/100 sq ft; vegetable garden 3.6 lb/100 sq ft; tomatoes 3.6 lb/100 sq ft; roses 3.6 lb/100 sq ft; pink hydrangeas 3 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.28, spread about 36 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed, ideally in fall.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 477,186 surveyed acres in Chesterfield, SC, 54% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 46% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4.2 to 6.5, a spread of 2.3 units across 131 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 8.9% clay and 1.43% 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. None of the mapped components carry free carbonate.

Chesterfield against the rest of South Carolina

pH 5.28 is right at the South Carolina median of 5.3. 22 of 46 South Carolina counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Sumter (5.21), Barnwell (5.23), Lee (5.26), Georgetown (5.27), Aiken (5.32), Saluda (5.33), Jasper (5.37), Newberry (5.37).

The range in South Carolina runs from Charleston at 4.8 to Beaufort at 5.92; Chesterfield sits 43% of the way up.