Soil pH in Vernon, LA: Lime or Sulfur?
Typical topsoil pH in Vernon, LA
Typical topsoil in Vernon, LA is pH 5.23, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 9.1 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.
What Vernon needs, by plant
- Already in range: potatoes, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas.
- Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 9.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; vegetable garden 9.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; tomatoes 9.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; strawberries 5.6 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 9.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.
What to do next
If your test confirms pH near 5.23, spread about 91 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 736,461 surveyed acres in Vernon, LA, 66% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 32% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 1% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 3.6 to 7.9, a spread of 4.3 units across 61 soil components. 66% 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 13.2% clay and 1.5% 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. 1% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).
Vernon against the rest of Louisiana
pH 5.23 is 0.31 below the Louisiana median of 5.54. 8 of 64 Louisiana counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.
Closest in pH within the state: Sabine (5.2), St. Tammany (5.21), Jackson (5.22), St. Helena (5.22), LaSalle (5.24), Union (5.24), Bienville (5.25), East Feliciana (5.26).
The range in Louisiana runs from Allen at 4.88 to St. Bernard at 7; Vernon sits 17% of the way up.