Soil pH in Mississippi, AR: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Mississippi, AR

Typical topsoil in Mississippi, AR is pH 6.32, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Mississippi needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 2.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 4.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 3.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 3.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.32, 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 524,533 surveyed acres in Mississippi, AR, 64% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 36% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4.9 to 7, a spread of 2.1 units across 57 soil components. 64% 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 33.8% clay and 1.94% 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. 1% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Mississippi against the rest of Arkansas

pH 6.32 is 0.88 above the Arkansas median of 5.44. 73 of 75 Arkansas counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Poinsett (5.97), Chicot (6.05), Monroe (6.05), Phillips (6.12), Desha (6.33).

The range in Arkansas runs from Madison at 5.02 to Desha at 6.33; Mississippi sits 99% of the way up.