Soil pH in Monroe, FL: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Monroe, FL

Typical topsoil in Monroe, FL is pH 7.81 and calcareous, so sulfur won't lower it for long. For vegetable garden, choose alkaline-tolerant varieties and add compost rather than fighting the soil.

What Monroe needs, by plant

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

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 7.81, consider raised beds for anything acid-loving; with 98% of soils here carrying free lime, sulfur will not hold.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 15,646 surveyed acres in Monroe, FL, 100% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 7.6 to 8, a spread of 0.4 units across 37 soil components. 100% 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 9.5% clay and 1.94% organic matter, which this site treats as sandy. Moving it one pH unit takes about 3 lb of lime or 1.2 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 98% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground), enough that sulfur gets neutralised before it does much.

Monroe against the rest of Florida

pH 7.81 is 2.56 above the Florida median of 5.25. 66 of 67 Florida counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Sarasota (5.82), Brevard (6.04), Broward (6.25), Miami-Dade (6.91).