Soil pH in Van Zandt, TX: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Van Zandt, TX

Typical topsoil in Van Zandt, TX is pH 5.91, just outside the 6-7 range for vegetable garden. Test first; it may need nothing.

What Van Zandt needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Just outside, test first: lawn (cool-season grass) (off by 0.1), vegetable garden (off by 0.1), roses (off by 0.1), pink hydrangeas (off by 0.1).
• Lime: tomatoes 4.2 lb/100 sq ft.
• Sulfur: blueberries 2.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 1.6 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 5.91, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, potatoes, strawberries, roses, azaleas and rhododendrons, pink hydrangeas.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 463,953 surveyed acres in Van Zandt, TX, 63% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 31% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 5% are strongly acidic (below 5.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4.3 to 7, a spread of 2.7 units across 51 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 12.9% clay and 1.52% 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.

Van Zandt against the rest of Texas

pH 5.91 is 1.52 below the Texas median of 7.43. 34 of 254 Texas counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Morris (5.75), Walker (5.79), Anderson (5.87), Chambers (5.89), Colorado (6.01), Madison (6.02), Franklin (6.04), Harris (6.04).

The range in Texas runs from Hardin at 4.64 to Upton at 8.19; Van Zandt sits 36% of the way up.