Soil pH in Clarion, PA: Lime or Sulfur?
Typical topsoil pH in Clarion, PA
Typical topsoil in Clarion, PA is pH 5.07, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 16.1 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.
What Clarion needs, by plant
- Already in range: potatoes, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas.
- Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 16.1 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; vegetable garden 16.1 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; tomatoes 16.1 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; strawberries 10.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; roses 16.1 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; pink hydrangeas 13.8 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications.
What to do next
If your test confirms pH near 5.07, spread about 161 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 4 doses, ideally in fall.
How mixed the soil is
Of the 383,343 surveyed acres in Clarion, PA, 68% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 31% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 1% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.1 to 7.1, a spread of 3 units across 368 soil components. 68% 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 16.3% clay and 8.34% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. At 8.34% 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. None of the mapped components carry free carbonate.
Clarion against the rest of Pennsylvania
pH 5.07 is 0.24 below the Pennsylvania median of 5.31. 14 of 67 Pennsylvania counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.
Closest in pH within the state: Potter (5.04), Venango (5.05), Cambria (5.06), Somerset (5.06), Centre (5.09), Snyder (5.12), Perry (5.13), Huntingdon (5.17).
The range in Pennsylvania runs from Forest at 4.57 to Greene at 6.07; Clarion sits 33% of the way up.