Soil pH in Orange, VA: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Orange, VA

Typical topsoil in Orange, VA is pH 5.33, 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 5.33, 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 185,957 surveyed acres in Orange, VA, 57% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 43% are strongly acidic (below 5.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4.6 to 6.5, a spread of 1.9 units across 181 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 21.4% clay and 1.65% 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. None of the mapped components carry free carbonate.

Orange against the rest of Virginia

pH 5.33 is 0.09 above the Virginia median of 5.24. 81 of 127 Virginia counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Petersburg City (5.29), Scott (5.32), Wythe (5.32), Bedford (5.33), Southampton (5.33), Loudoun (5.34), Goochland (5.35), Montgomery (5.35).

The range in Virginia runs from Newport News City at 4.76 to Poquoson City at 6.36; Orange sits 36% of the way up.