Soil pH in Desha, AR: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Desha, AR

Typical topsoil in Desha, AR is pH 6.33, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Desha needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 2.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 4.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 3.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 3.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.33, 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 415,371 surveyed acres in Desha, AR, 61% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 21% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 19% are strongly acidic (below 5.5). Mapped soils run from pH 5.3 to 7.3, a spread of 2 units across 37 soil components. 61% 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 41.6% clay and 2.11% 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.

Desha against the rest of Arkansas

pH 6.33 is 0.89 above the Arkansas median of 5.44. 74 of 75 Arkansas counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Chicot (6.05), Monroe (6.05), Phillips (6.12), Mississippi (6.32).