Soil pH in Walker, TX: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Walker, TX

Typical topsoil in Walker, TX is pH 5.79, just outside the 6-7 range for vegetable garden. Test first; it may need nothing.

What Walker needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Just outside, test first: lawn (cool-season grass) (off by 0.2), vegetable garden (off by 0.2), roses (off by 0.2), pink hydrangeas (off by 0.2).
• Lime: tomatoes 4.9 lb/100 sq ft.
• Sulfur: blueberries 1.8 lb/100 sq ft; blue hydrangeas 1.2 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 5.79, 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 414,114 surveyed acres in Walker, TX, 66% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 15% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 13% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 6% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5 to 8.2, a spread of 3.2 units across 54 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 16.8% clay and 1.25% 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. 7% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Walker against the rest of Texas

pH 5.79 is 1.64 below the Texas median of 7.43. 31 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: Smith (5.7), Jefferson (5.71), Titus (5.74), Morris (5.75), Anderson (5.87), Chambers (5.89), Van Zandt (5.91), Colorado (6.01).

The range in Texas runs from Hardin at 4.64 to Upton at 8.19; Walker sits 32% of the way up.