Soil pH in Hancock, KY: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Hancock, KY

Typical topsoil in Hancock, KY is pH 5.75, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 5.6 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Hancock needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 5.6 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; vegetable garden 5.6 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; tomatoes 5.6 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 5.6 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 3.5 lb/100 sq ft.
• Sulfur: blueberries 1.8 lb/100 sq ft; blue hydrangeas 1.2 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.75, spread about 56 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 113,368 surveyed acres in Hancock, KY, 72% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 19% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 9% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 3.6 to 8.3, a spread of 4.7 units across 289 soil components. 72% 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 19.8% clay and 1.91% 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. 0% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Hancock against the rest of Kentucky

pH 5.75 is right at the Kentucky median of 5.79. 56 of 120 Kentucky counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Webster (5.73), Marshall (5.74), Trigg (5.74), Warren (5.74), Caldwell (5.76), Logan (5.78), Meade (5.78), Crittenden (5.79).

The range in Kentucky runs from Greenup at 5.09 to Carroll at 6.63; Hancock sits 43% of the way up.