Soil pH in Columbia, GA: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Columbia, GA

Typical topsoil in Columbia, GA is pH 5.28, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 8.4 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Columbia 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) 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; vegetable garden 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; tomatoes 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.28, spread about 84 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 2 doses, ideally in fall.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 182,934 surveyed acres in Columbia, GA, 52% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 49% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4.6 to 5.9, a spread of 1.3 units across 50 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 15.3% clay and 1.26% 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.

Columbia against the rest of Georgia

pH 5.28 is 0.05 below the Georgia median of 5.33. 56 of 159 Georgia counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: McDuffie (5.26), White (5.26), Baker (5.27), Bulloch (5.27), Lumpkin (5.28), Bibb (5.29), Hancock (5.29), Lincoln (5.29).

The range in Georgia runs from Clinch at 4.64 to Elbert at 5.68; Columbia sits 62% of the way up.