Soil pH in Falls Church City, VA: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Falls Church City, VA

Typical topsoil in Falls Church City, VA is pH 6.32, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Falls Church City 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 6.32, 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 828 surveyed acres in Falls Church City, VA, 52% are alkaline (above 7.3), 47% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 1% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4.5 to 7.5, a spread of 3 units across 24 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 18.6% clay and 1.47% 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.

Falls Church City against the rest of Virginia

pH 6.32 is 1.08 above the Virginia median of 5.24. 125 of 127 Virginia counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Wise (5.82), South Boston City (5.82), Danville City (5.95), Fairfax City (6.28), Poquoson City (6.36).

The range in Virginia runs from Newport News City at 4.76 to Poquoson City at 6.36; Falls Church City sits 98% of the way up.