Soil pH in Fairfield, CT: Lime or Sulfur?
Typical topsoil pH in Fairfield, CT
Typical topsoil in Fairfield, CT is pH 5.26, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 8.4 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.
What Fairfield needs, by plant
- Already in range: potatoes, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas.
- Just outside, test first: strawberries (off by 0.2).
- Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; vegetable garden 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; tomatoes 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.
What to do next
If your test confirms pH near 5.26, spread about 84 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 2 doses, ideally in fall.
How mixed the soil is
Of the 350,779 surveyed acres in Fairfield, CT, 52% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 45% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 2% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 1% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 3.8 to 7.9, a spread of 4.1 units across 883 soil components. No single class covers 60% of the county, so two gardens a few miles apart here can need opposite treatments. Test your own bed.
Clay, organic matter and rates
Topsoil here averages 8.2% clay and 6.31% organic matter, which this site treats as loam. At 6.31% organic matter the soil buffers like a heavier one, which pushes it into the loam bracket. Moving it one pH unit takes about 7 lb of lime or 2.3 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 1% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).
Fairfield against the rest of Connecticut
pH 5.26 is right at the Connecticut median of 5.23. 5 of 8 Connecticut counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.
Closest in pH within the state: Windham (5.07), New London (5.14), Middlesex (5.21), Litchfield (5.25), New Haven (5.29), Hartford (5.33).
The range in Connecticut runs from Tolland at 5.07 to Hartford at 5.33; Fairfield sits 73% of the way up.