Soil pH in Orange, TX: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Orange, TX

Typical topsoil in Orange, TX is pH 5.31, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 8.4 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Orange needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas.
• Just outside, test first: strawberries (off by 0.2).
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; vegetable garden 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; tomatoes 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 6.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.31, spread about 84 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 2 doses, ideally in fall.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 204,458 surveyed acres in Orange, TX, 75% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 15% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 7% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 3% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4 to 7.8, a spread of 3.8 units across 90 soil components. 75% 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 20.6% clay and 3.23% 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. 4% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Orange against the rest of Texas

pH 5.31 is 2.12 below the Texas median of 7.43. 8 of 254 Texas counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: San Jacinto (5.21), Tyler (5.21), Polk (5.23), Montgomery (5.27), Marion (5.36), Harrison (5.37), Angelina (5.38), Trinity (5.38).

The range in Texas runs from Hardin at 4.64 to Upton at 8.19; Orange sits 19% of the way up.