Soil pH in Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, AK: Lime or Sulfur?
Typical topsoil pH in Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, AK
Typical topsoil in Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, AK is pH 6.06, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.
What Hoonah-Angoon Census Area needs, by plant
- Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
- Just outside, test first: tomatoes (off by 0.1), potatoes (off by 0.1), azaleas and rhododendrons (off by 0.1).
- Sulfur: blueberries 1.3 lb/100 sq ft; blue hydrangeas 1 lb/100 sq ft.
What to do next
If your test lands near 6.06, 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 740,769 surveyed acres in Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, AK, 47% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 28% are alkaline (above 7.3), 22% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 4% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 3.8 to 7.9, a spread of 4.1 units across 187 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 7.8% clay and 4.87% organic matter, which this site treats as sandy. Moving it one pH unit takes about 3 lb of lime or 1.2 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 21% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).
Hoonah-Angoon Census Area against the rest of Alaska
pH 6.06 is 0.8 above the Alaska median of 5.26. 25 of 27 Alaska counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.
Closest in pH within the state: North Slope Borough (5.62), Southeast Fairbanks Census Area (5.66), Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area (5.9), Denali Borough (5.94), Yakutat City and Borough (6.08).
The range in Alaska runs from Ketchikan Gateway Borough at 4.52 to Yakutat City and Borough at 6.08; Hoonah-Angoon Census Area sits 99% of the way up.