Soil pH in King and Queen, VA: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in King and Queen, VA

Typical topsoil in King and Queen, VA is pH 5.57, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 6.3 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What King and Queen needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Just outside, test first: blueberries (off by 0.1), blue hydrangeas (off by 0.1).
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 6.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; vegetable garden 6.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; tomatoes 6.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 6.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 4.9 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.57, spread about 63 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 2 doses, ideally in fall.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 166,005 surveyed acres in King and Queen, VA, 51% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 46% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 2% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.6 to 8.2, a spread of 3.6 units across 74 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 12% clay and 1.5% 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.

King and Queen against the rest of Virginia

pH 5.57 is 0.33 above the Virginia median of 5.24. 112 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: Bristol City (5.52), Floyd (5.54), Northampton (5.54), Pittsylvania (5.55), Lee (5.58), Mecklenburg (5.63), Cumberland (5.64), Clarke (5.66).

The range in Virginia runs from Newport News City at 4.76 to Poquoson City at 6.36; King and Queen sits 51% of the way up.