Soil pH in Kaufman, TX: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Kaufman, TX

Typical topsoil in Kaufman, TX is pH 6.76, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Kaufman needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.
• Sulfur: potatoes 4.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; strawberries 2.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 6.1 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 5.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; blue hydrangeas 5.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; pink hydrangeas 1.7 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.76, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 444,669 surveyed acres in Kaufman, TX, 42% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 31% are alkaline (above 7.3), 27% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 5.5 to 8.2, a spread of 2.7 units across 43 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 31.4% clay and 1.71% 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. 27% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Kaufman against the rest of Texas

pH 6.76 is 0.67 below the Texas median of 7.43. 65 of 254 Texas counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Lavaca (6.71), Limestone (6.73), Wheeler (6.75), Clay (6.76), Fayette (6.77), Eastland (6.81), Montague (6.82), Goliad (6.84).

The range in Texas runs from Hardin at 4.64 to Upton at 8.19; Kaufman sits 60% of the way up.