Soil pH in Isle of Wight, VA: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Isle of Wight, VA

Typical topsoil in Isle of Wight, VA is pH 4.93, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 11.2 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Isle of Wight needs, by plant

• Already in range: blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Just outside, test first: potatoes (off by 0.1), blue hydrangeas (off by 0.1).
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 11.2 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; vegetable garden 11.2 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; tomatoes 11.2 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; strawberries 7.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 11.2 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; pink hydrangeas 9.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 4.93, spread about 112 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 3 doses, ideally in fall.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 179,176 surveyed acres in Isle of Wight, VA, 97% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 3% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.6 to 7.3, a spread of 2.7 units across 74 soil components. 97% 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 14% clay and 1.84% 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.

Isle of Wight against the rest of Virginia

pH 4.93 is 0.31 below the Virginia median of 5.24. 14 of 127 Virginia counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Greensville (4.9), Charles City (4.91), Surry (4.91), Bath (4.92), Essex (4.94), Chesapeake City (4.94), Hampton City (4.94), Arlington (4.95).

The range in Virginia runs from Newport News City at 4.76 to Poquoson City at 6.36; Isle of Wight sits 11% of the way up.