Soil pH in Orange, VT: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Orange, VT

Typical topsoil in Orange, VT is pH 5.7, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 5.6 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Orange needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Just outside, test first: blueberries (off by 0.2), blue hydrangeas (off by 0.2).
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 5.6 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; vegetable garden 5.6 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; tomatoes 5.6 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 5.6 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 3.5 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.7, spread about 56 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 431,432 surveyed acres in Orange, VT, 63% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 27% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 10% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.6 to 7, a spread of 2.4 units across 327 soil components. 63% 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 7.4% clay and 5.67% organic matter, which this site treats as loam. At 5.67% organic matter the soil buffers like a heavier one, which pushes it into the loam bracket. Moving it one pH unit takes about 7 lb of lime or 2.3 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 0% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Orange against the rest of Vermont

pH 5.7 is 0.41 above the Vermont median of 5.29. 12 of 14 Vermont counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Chittenden (5.31), Caledonia (5.37), Addison (5.55), Franklin (5.58), Grand Isle (6.51).

The range in Vermont runs from Windham at 4.81 to Grand Isle at 6.51; Orange sits 52% of the way up.