Soil pH in Liberty, TX: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Liberty, TX

Typical topsoil in Liberty, TX is pH 5.13, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 16.1 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Liberty needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas.
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 16.1 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; vegetable garden 16.1 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; tomatoes 16.1 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; strawberries 10.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; roses 16.1 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; pink hydrangeas 12.7 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.13, spread about 161 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 4 doses, ideally in fall.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 667,822 surveyed acres in Liberty, TX, 75% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 20% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 3% are alkaline (above 7.3), 3% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 3.8 to 7.6, a spread of 3.8 units across 124 soil components. 75% 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 28% clay and 2.53% 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. 2% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Liberty against the rest of Texas

pH 5.13 is 2.3 below the Texas median of 7.43. 2 of 254 Texas counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Hardin (4.64), Jasper (5.12), Newton (5.17), San Jacinto (5.21), Tyler (5.21), Polk (5.23).

The range in Texas runs from Hardin at 4.64 to Upton at 8.19; Liberty sits 14% of the way up.