Soil pH in Preston, WV: Lime or Sulfur?
Typical topsoil pH in Preston, WV
Typical topsoil in Preston, WV is pH 4.84, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 19.6 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.
What Preston needs, by plant
- Already in range: blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
- Just outside, test first: potatoes (off by 0.2), blue hydrangeas (off by 0.2).
- Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 19.6 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; vegetable garden 19.6 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; tomatoes 19.6 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; strawberries 13.8 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; roses 19.6 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; pink hydrangeas 16.1 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications.
What to do next
If your test confirms pH near 4.84, spread about 196 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 4 doses, ideally in fall.
How mixed the soil is
Of the 335,789 surveyed acres in Preston, WV, 87% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 10% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 3% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.1 to 6.7, a spread of 2.6 units across 152 soil components. 87% 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 19.5% clay and 6.58% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. At 6.58% 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.
Preston against the rest of West Virginia
pH 4.84 is 0.31 below the West Virginia median of 5.15. 5 of 55 West 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: Boone (4.59), Mingo (4.64), Nicholas (4.66), Logan (4.74), Randolph (4.87), Raleigh (4.88), Upshur (4.92), Webster (4.92).
The range in West Virginia runs from McDowell at 4.42 to Marshall at 6.17; Preston sits 24% of the way up.