Soil pH in Delaware, OH: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Delaware, OH

Typical topsoil in Delaware, OH is pH 6.34, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Delaware needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 1.8 lb/100 sq ft; blueberries 3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 2.5 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 2.5 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.34, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 266,470 surveyed acres in Delaware, OH, 92% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 8% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.5 to 7.9, a spread of 3.4 units across 117 soil components. 92% 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 24.7% clay and 2.86% 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.

Delaware against the rest of Ohio

pH 6.34 is 0.26 above the Ohio median of 6.08. 54 of 88 Ohio counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Clinton (6.25), Hamilton (6.25), Crawford (6.26), Madison (6.33), Franklin (6.35), Champaign (6.38), Williams (6.39), Union (6.4).

The range in Ohio runs from Monroe at 5.02 to Wood at 6.6; Delaware sits 84% of the way up.