Soil pH in Darlington, SC: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Darlington, SC

Typical topsoil in Darlington, SC is pH 4.99, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 4.5 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Darlington needs, by plant

• Already in range: blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Just outside, test first: potatoes (off by 0), blue hydrangeas (off by 0).
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 4.5 lb/100 sq ft; vegetable garden 4.5 lb/100 sq ft; tomatoes 4.5 lb/100 sq ft; strawberries 3 lb/100 sq ft; roses 4.5 lb/100 sq ft; pink hydrangeas 3.9 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 4.99, spread about 45 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed, ideally in fall.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 332,885 surveyed acres in Darlington, SC, 88% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 13% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4.2 to 6.2, a spread of 2 units across 140 soil components. 88% 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 9.2% clay and 1.94% 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.

Darlington against the rest of South Carolina

pH 4.99 is 0.31 below the South Carolina median of 5.3. 3 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: Charleston (4.8), Clarendon (4.87), Williamsburg (4.96), Dillon (5.01), Bamberg (5.02), Hampton (5.02), Horry (5.04).

The range in South Carolina runs from Charleston at 4.8 to Beaufort at 5.92; Darlington sits 17% of the way up.