Soil pH in Sullivan, PA: Lime or Sulfur?
Typical topsoil pH in Sullivan, PA
Typical topsoil in Sullivan, PA is pH 5.39, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 12.7 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.
What Sullivan needs, by plant
- Already in range: potatoes, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas.
- Just outside, test first: strawberries (off by 0.1).
- Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 12.7 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; vegetable garden 12.7 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; tomatoes 12.7 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; roses 12.7 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; pink hydrangeas 10.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications.
What to do next
If your test confirms pH near 5.39, spread about 127 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 3 doses, ideally in fall.
How mixed the soil is
Of the 280,423 surveyed acres in Sullivan, PA, 70% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 28% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 2% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.6 to 6.6, a spread of 2 units across 162 soil components. 70% 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 15.5% clay and 8.75% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. At 8.75% 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.
Sullivan against the rest of Pennsylvania
pH 5.39 is 0.08 above the Pennsylvania median of 5.31. 37 of 67 Pennsylvania counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.
Closest in pH within the state: Columbia (5.31), Erie (5.32), Montour (5.33), Bedford (5.38), Luzerne (5.4), Westmoreland (5.43), Wayne (5.44), Beaver (5.46).
The range in Pennsylvania runs from Forest at 4.57 to Greene at 6.07; Sullivan sits 55% of the way up.