Honestly, Allison, I think you ought to get a book. Soil chemistry is just that: chemistry. Everything interacts with everything else. It isn't simple plus or minus.

You can get books on basic soils science from Amazon. Also, the Master Gardener programs of different states have books. I bought the Master Gardener book for California. Also, I'm going to bet that Texas has some outstanding soils science information for farmers on some aggie extension site. The best soils information is always local because soils chemistry is local - - or at least regional. Even within a county, it can be local.

pH is interesting. Many roses can tolerate a really wide range of pH, no matter what people tell you to the contrary. Native roses grow in that stuff out there without lime and without sulfur, where the pH ranges from 5.0 to 8.5. Think of some micro-nutrients and soils chemicals this way: they can be in the soil but insoluble when the pH is high. They can be in the soil and way too soluble when the pH is low. My garden soils, with very low native pH present a problem not so much because the usual good micronutrients are massively available because they are so soluble. The problem is that a "bad micronutrient" is also massively available: aluminum. So I adjust the pH up primarily to stop my roses from absorbing too much aluminum. How do I even know they are doing it? Because I got crazy and had a test done to find out what some weird leaf symptoms were. Results: very high levels of all micronutrients like iron and copper and excessively high levels of aluminum (which our soils test does not show because aluminum is not a nutrient.)

Anyway, you need to read about the impact of adding sulfur. It will have other effects on your soil besides lowing the pH. This isn't my issue, so I don't have time to check - - is it Ca or Mg? Those two are twinsies you want to have in a bit of a balance. The balance isn't much of a problem in a lot of soils. In many parts of the country, people add Magnesium as epsom salts. Out here, that's pure lunacy because most of our soils from the coastal mountains to the Pacific are so high in Magnesium they are off the charts. And yet I see garden centers selling epsom salts to rose growers when they really need to sell them calcium (gypsum). But I digress.

1) Check local extension. Farmers know their stuff. Those guys need to know soils because their living depends on it.
2) Get some books.

And by the time you spent all that time and energy on self-education, you could have had a soils test and you will have a head start on reading the results and recommendations.

Thanks. I have had the soil test in the past, and know what the numbers tell me. And I have some books..... lengthy scientfic tomes, in fact, that are good for insomnia.

In your couple of paragraphs above you have encapuslated three or four chapers. Sometimes just a friendly chat is more fun than study!

Allison

Allison, the Consulting Rosarian manual from the ARS might also be helpful to you. It is not expensive and you don't have to be a CR to order one.

PH is important for farmers because they need to use the optimum amount of fertilizer. Too much or too little and their income drops. But, most rosarians use far too much fertilizer, so it really doesn't matter.

The regular addition of compost, grass clippings, manure, alfalfa pellets and use of organic fertilizers will help maintain soil health, and used liberally will actually help offset the alkaline tendencies of your soil AND WATER. I started a garden in the Dallas area and after just one year the pH changed a full point just from the organics. Organic amendments also stimulate bio-activity in the soil, even if all you do is bury chopped orange rinds & coffee grounds in between the plants! Liquid systemics and chemical-based fertilizers can disturb the balance and suppress the teeming life that should be in the soil. Since roses are tolerant of such a wide pH range, you can work to improve the soil gradually. I don't believe it's necessary to try and change your "test scores" the first season. The roses will tell you if they're happy!

Allison, I hasten to add that everywhere I've grown roses-- California, Ohio, Texas and now Virginia-- I will send soil samples to the ag college or a soil lab. Over time it helps determine what type of amendment is really needed which is esp. important for organic gardeners like me who "mix their own". My best resource in Texas was a couple of feed stores who also worked with farmers and small wineries--great source of inexpensive products AND advice!

Ortho makes a nice book on soil that is easy to read, and understandable. I also never knew until just this week that a healthy soil fungus situation is needed for optimal nutrient absorption.

Hello Allison,

I don't know much about acid soils, we just don't have that problem here in the desert but we do have very alkaline soils. In high PH (alkaline) soils the phosphate binds with calcium in the soil making a phosphorous deficiency. Iron, Maganese, and Zinc although present become hard for plants to access. In Soils above 7.5 iron becomes insoluble and plants not adapted to lime soils will become chlorotic.

Gypsum is not nearly as good as sulfer to add to alkaline soils because it is the end product of the PH lowering process. It can be good for improving structure though if you have clay soil.

2S + O2 + 2H2O = 2H2SO4 sulpheric acid which lowers soil PH

Also because organic matter is usually neutral in ph it will have the effect of lowering ph also when dug in at planting or used as a mulch that can work its way down into the soil. And those minerals like iron and zinc that weren't available at higher ph become available as the ph is lowered.

Maria

Thanks everyone!