Soil pH in Edwards, IL: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Edwards, IL

Typical topsoil in Edwards, IL is pH 6.17, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Edwards needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Just outside, test first: tomatoes (off by 0), potatoes (off by 0.2), azaleas and rhododendrons (off by 0.2).
• Sulfur: blueberries 2.8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 2.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.17, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, roses, azaleas and rhododendrons, pink hydrangeas.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 138,796 surveyed acres in Edwards, IL, 68% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 31% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 1% are strongly acidic (below 5.5). Mapped soils run from pH 5.3 to 7.2, a spread of 1.9 units across 157 soil components. 68% 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 19.5% clay and 2.04% 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.

Edwards against the rest of Illinois

pH 6.17 is 0.23 below the Illinois median of 6.4. 11 of 102 Illinois counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Jefferson (6.03), Saline (6.11), Hamilton (6.13), Franklin (6.14), Effingham (6.17), De Witt (6.21), Richland (6.21), Jackson (6.22).

The range in Illinois runs from Pope at 5.5 to Grundy at 6.75; Edwards sits 54% of the way up.