Soil pH in Lowndes, AL: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Lowndes, AL

Typical topsoil in Lowndes, AL is pH 6.25, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Lowndes needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Beds or pots instead: potatoes, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.25, 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 403,676 surveyed acres in Lowndes, AL, 37% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 29% are alkaline (above 7.3), 26% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 8% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.3 to 7.9, a spread of 3.6 units across 140 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 24.8% clay and 2% 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. 35% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground), enough that sulfur gets neutralised before it does much.

Lowndes against the rest of Alabama

pH 6.25 is 1.1 above the Alabama median of 5.15. 66 of 67 Alabama counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Jackson (5.65), Lawrence (5.65), Montgomery (5.71), Madison (5.73).