Soil pH in Chittenden, VT: Lime or Sulfur?
Typical topsoil pH in Chittenden, VT
Typical topsoil in Chittenden, VT is pH 5.31, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 13.8 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.
What Chittenden 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) 13.8 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; vegetable garden 13.8 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; tomatoes 13.8 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; roses 13.8 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; pink hydrangeas 10.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications.
What to do next
If your test confirms pH near 5.31, spread about 138 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 323,191 surveyed acres in Chittenden, VT, 56% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 35% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 10% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4 to 7.6, a spread of 3.6 units across 449 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 12.2% clay and 7.01% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. At 7.01% 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).
Chittenden against the rest of Vermont
pH 5.31 is right at the Vermont median of 5.29. 8 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: Windsor (5.17), Bennington (5.2), Orleans (5.27), Rutland (5.3), Caledonia (5.37), Addison (5.55), Franklin (5.58), Orange (5.7).
The range in Vermont runs from Windham at 4.81 to Grand Isle at 6.51; Chittenden sits 29% of the way up.