Soil pH in Pushmataha, OK: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Pushmataha, OK

Typical topsoil in Pushmataha, OK is pH 5.55, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 7 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Pushmataha needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Just outside, test first: blueberries (off by 0), blue hydrangeas (off by 0).
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; vegetable garden 7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; tomatoes 7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 4.9 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.55, spread about 70 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 861,124 surveyed acres in Pushmataha, OK, 48% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 45% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 7% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.6 to 7.5, a spread of 2.9 units across 206 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 15.2% clay and 1.09% 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.

Pushmataha against the rest of Oklahoma

pH 5.55 is 1 below the Oklahoma median of 6.55. 6 of 77 Oklahoma counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Cherokee (5.2), Latimer (5.47), Haskell (5.5), Le Flore (5.54), McCurtain (5.59), Mayes (5.63), Ottawa (5.63), Pittsburg (5.63).

The range in Oklahoma runs from Adair at 5.12 to Beaver at 7.65; Pushmataha sits 17% of the way up.