Soil pH in Lee, VA: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Lee, VA

Typical topsoil in Lee, VA is pH 5.58, 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 Lee 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 5.58, 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 233,151 surveyed acres in Lee, VA, 47% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 47% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 5% are alkaline (above 7.3), 1% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.5 to 8, a spread of 3.5 units across 112 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 19.6% clay and 1.47% 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.

Lee against the rest of Virginia

pH 5.58 is 0.34 above the Virginia median of 5.24. 113 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: Floyd (5.54), Northampton (5.54), Pittsylvania (5.55), King and Queen (5.57), Mecklenburg (5.63), Cumberland (5.64), Clarke (5.66), Norfolk City (5.69).

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