Soil pH in Mason, KY: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Mason, KY

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

What Mason needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 1.8 lb/100 sq ft; blueberries 3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

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 141,782 surveyed acres in Mason, KY, 71% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 23% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 4% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 3% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.5 to 7.5, a spread of 3 units across 71 soil components. 71% 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 22.6% clay and 2.2% 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. 22% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Mason against the rest of Kentucky

pH 6.25 is 0.46 above the Kentucky median of 5.79. 101 of 120 Kentucky counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Robertson (6.18), Union (6.19), Boyle (6.21), Henry (6.21), Garrard (6.26), Scott (6.27), Washington (6.28), Clark (6.3).

The range in Kentucky runs from Greenup at 5.09 to Carroll at 6.63; Mason sits 75% of the way up.