Soil pH in Cross, AR: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Cross, AR

Typical topsoil in Cross, AR is pH 5.56, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 10.4 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Cross needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Just outside, test first: blueberries (off by 0.1), blue hydrangeas (off by 0.1).
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 10.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; vegetable garden 10.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; tomatoes 10.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; roses 10.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; pink hydrangeas 8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.56, spread about 104 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 356,591 surveyed acres in Cross, AR, 79% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 19% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 2% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5.3 to 6.7, a spread of 1.4 units across 69 soil components. 79% 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 30.1% clay and 1.55% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. 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.

Cross against the rest of Arkansas

pH 5.56 is 0.12 above the Arkansas median of 5.44. 44 of 75 Arkansas counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Polk (5.46), Carroll (5.47), Lonoke (5.51), Conway (5.54), Lincoln (5.58), Hempstead (5.59), Prairie (5.59), Izard (5.6).

The range in Arkansas runs from Madison at 5.02 to Desha at 6.33; Cross sits 41% of the way up.