Soil pH in Lubbock, TX: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Lubbock, TX

Typical topsoil in Lubbock, TX is pH 7.47, too alkaline for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 2.3 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Lubbock needs, by plant

• Sulfur: lawn (cool-season grass) 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; vegetable garden 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; tomatoes 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; potatoes 4.6 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; strawberries 3.5 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 5.8 lb/100 sq ft over 3 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 2.8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 7.47, work in about 23 lb of elemental sulfur per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 2 doses.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 574,308 surveyed acres in Lubbock, TX, 52% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 48% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 6.5 to 8.4, a spread of 1.9 units across 169 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 24.7% clay and 2.11% 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. 24% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Lubbock against the rest of Texas

pH 7.47 is right at the Texas median of 7.43. 132 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: San Patricio (7.44), Winkler (7.45), Kent (7.46), Fisher (7.47), Ochiltree (7.47), Bexar (7.49), Kerr (7.49), Wilbarger (7.49).

The range in Texas runs from Hardin at 4.64 to Upton at 8.19; Lubbock sits 80% of the way up.