Soil pH in Yoakum, TX: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Yoakum, TX

Typical topsoil in Yoakum, TX is pH 7.71, too alkaline for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 1.4 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Yoakum needs, by plant

• Sulfur: lawn (cool-season grass) 1.4 lb/100 sq ft; vegetable garden 1.4 lb/100 sq ft; tomatoes 1.4 lb/100 sq ft; potatoes 2.6 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; strawberries 2 lb/100 sq ft; roses 1.4 lb/100 sq ft; blueberries 3.2 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 1.8 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 7.71, work in about 14 lb of elemental sulfur per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 506,193 surveyed acres in Yoakum, TX, 87% are alkaline (above 7.3), 13% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 6.6 to 8.4, a spread of 1.8 units across 177 soil components. 87% 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 9.9% clay and 0.78% organic matter, which this site treats as sandy. Moving it one pH unit takes about 3 lb of lime or 1.2 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 14% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Yoakum against the rest of Texas

pH 7.71 is 0.28 above the Texas median of 7.43. 192 of 254 Texas counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Loving (7.69), Baylor (7.7), McMullen (7.7), Blanco (7.71), Armstrong (7.72), Mills (7.72), Bandera (7.73), Mitchell (7.73).

The range in Texas runs from Hardin at 4.64 to Upton at 8.19; Yoakum sits 86% of the way up.