Soil pH in Pulaski, IL: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Pulaski, IL

Typical topsoil in Pulaski, IL is pH 6.02, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Pulaski needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Just outside, test first: tomatoes (off by 0.2), potatoes (off by 0), azaleas and rhododendrons (off by 0).
• Sulfur: blueberries 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 1.8 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.02, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, roses, azaleas and rhododendrons, pink hydrangeas.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 118,009 surveyed acres in Pulaski, IL, 81% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 19% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.8 to 7.3, a spread of 2.5 units across 180 soil components. 81% 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 22.5% clay and 1.72% 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. 0% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Pulaski against the rest of Illinois

pH 6.02 is 0.38 below the Illinois median of 6.4. 5 of 102 Illinois counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Johnson (5.56), Hardin (5.65), Massac (5.81), Williamson (5.92), Union (6.02), Jefferson (6.03), Saline (6.11), Hamilton (6.13).

The range in Illinois runs from Pope at 5.5 to Grundy at 6.75; Pulaski sits 42% of the way up.