Soil pH in Issaquena, MS: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Issaquena, MS

Typical topsoil in Issaquena, MS is pH 6.73, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Issaquena needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.
• Just outside, test first: strawberries (off by 0.2), pink hydrangeas (off by 0.2).
• Sulfur: potatoes 4.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; blueberries 5.8 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 5.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; blue hydrangeas 5.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.73, 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 245,753 surveyed acres in Issaquena, MS, 96% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 2% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 2% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 5 to 7.3, a spread of 2.3 units across 82 soil components. 96% 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 49.3% clay and 1.95% 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. 3% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Issaquena against the rest of Mississippi

pH 6.73 is 1.58 above the Mississippi median of 5.15. 81 of 82 Mississippi counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Coahoma (6.1), Bolivar (6.28), Sharkey (6.33), Washington (6.34).