Soil pH in Douglas, NV: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Douglas, NV

Typical topsoil in Douglas, NV is pH 6.87, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Douglas needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, roses.
• Just outside, test first: tomatoes (off by 0.1).
• Sulfur: potatoes 3.2 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; strawberries 2.1 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; pink hydrangeas 1.4 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.87, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 440,772 surveyed acres in Douglas, NV, 76% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 12% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 11% are alkaline (above 7.3), 1% are strongly acidic (below 5.5). Mapped soils run from pH 5 to 10.1, a spread of 5.1 units across 1,461 soil components. 76% 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 14.7% clay and 1.94% 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. 9% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Douglas against the rest of Nevada

pH 6.87 is 0.91 below the Nevada median of 7.78. 1 of 17 Nevada counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Carson City (6.85), Storey (7.25), Washoe (7.25), Lyon (7.58), Elko (7.69).

The range in Nevada runs from Carson City at 6.85 to Esmeralda at 8.33; Douglas sits 1% of the way up.