Soil pH in Ochiltree, TX: Lime or Sulfur?
Typical topsoil pH in Ochiltree, TX
Typical topsoil in Ochiltree, TX is pH 7.47, too alkaline for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 3.4 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.
What Ochiltree needs, by plant
- Sulfur: lawn (cool-season grass) 3.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; vegetable garden 3.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; tomatoes 3.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; potatoes 6.8 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; strawberries 5.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; roses 3.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 8.5 lb/100 sq ft over 5 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 7.5 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; blue hydrangeas 7.5 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; pink hydrangeas 4.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications.
What to do next
If your test confirms pH near 7.47, work in about 34 lb of elemental sulfur per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 2 doses.
How mixed the soil is
Of the 531,544 surveyed acres in Ochiltree, TX, 60% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 39% are alkaline (above 7.3), 1% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 6.2 to 8.5, a spread of 2.3 units across 35 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 31.9% clay and 1.97% 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. 28% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).
Ochiltree 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: Winkler (7.45), Kent (7.46), Fisher (7.47), Lubbock (7.47), Bexar (7.49), Kerr (7.49), Wilbarger (7.49), Hansford (7.5).
The range in Texas runs from Hardin at 4.64 to Upton at 8.19; Ochiltree sits 80% of the way up.