Soil pH in Imperial, CA: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Imperial, CA

Typical topsoil in Imperial, CA is pH 8.16 and calcareous, so sulfur won't lower it for long. For vegetable garden, choose alkaline-tolerant varieties and add compost rather than fighting the soil.

What Imperial needs, by plant

• Beds or pots instead: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, roses, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas, pink hydrangeas.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 8.16, consider raised beds for anything acid-loving; with 99% of soils here carrying free lime, sulfur will not hold.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 164,165 surveyed acres in Imperial, CA, 100% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 7.8 to 9, a spread of 1.2 units across 37 soil components. 100% 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 40.1% clay and 0.52% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. Moving it one pH unit takes about 11.5 lb of lime or 3.4 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 99% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground), enough that sulfur gets neutralised before it does much.

Imperial against the rest of California

pH 8.16 is 1.62 above the California median of 6.54. 57 of 58 California counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Kern (7.49), San Bernardino (7.61), Kings (7.92), Inyo (7.95).