Soil pH in Poquoson City, VA: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Poquoson City, VA

Typical topsoil in Poquoson City, VA is pH 6.36, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Poquoson City needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 3.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 4.8 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 3.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 3.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.36, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 7,282 surveyed acres in Poquoson City, VA, 63% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 30% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 8% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4 to 7.3, a spread of 3.3 units across 29 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 15.2% clay and 5.81% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. At 5.81% organic matter the soil buffers like a heavier one, which pushes it into the clay bracket. Moving it one pH unit takes about 11.5 lb of lime or 3.4 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. None of the mapped components carry free carbonate.

Poquoson City against the rest of Virginia

pH 6.36 is 1.12 above the Virginia median of 5.24. 126 of 127 Virginia counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: South Boston City (5.82), Danville City (5.95), Fairfax City (6.28), Falls Church City (6.32).