How long does garden sulfur work? You'll hate the answer. 

Very informative Jon. I have never done a soil test. You have made me curious of what my results might be.

8) You are correct about increasing the percentage of organic matter. The two mistakes I see more often are not adding enough and not giving it enough time to break down. I start with 4 cu. ft. of leaf mold per SF of native soil, mixing it in 12 inches deep. It needs to be kept moist and protected with a heavy mulch for at least one year. In many cases, the entire process needs to repeated a second time.

Wow…very interesting! Thanks for doing so much research here…I looked back at my first soil test from 2018, and my sandy Virginia soil was 6.6-and it would probably do well to have another one done after 4 solid years of mulching and amending. Because compost is neutral, my guess would be that it will raise the PH slightly. Makes sense that more organic matter would help break down the sulfur quicker. I didn’t know that sulfur is basically broken down the same as fertilizer. You learn something new every day! Fall application also makes sense..gives it time to break down partially before planting, and last through the growing season. Thanks a bunch, Jon! Very good information as always…

Hey guys, I learned a little bit making this video. No matter how much someone knows, there's always something new, but hey, that's the great thing about gardening it never gets boring. Let me know what you think. Thanks for watching.

3) Great to hear you dove into the scientific literature to get to the bottom of this. Agricultural Universities and their extensions are usually the best source of information.

6) Soil PH is primarily a function of the native rock (anything larger than 2mm). If your PH is high or low by 1.0 or more, you may need to go deep to remove them. In extreme cases, I have excavated four feet deep, put down a layer of large logs and backfilled with native soil screen to 3/8" and mixed with a high percentage of organic matter. I prefer leaf mold for this purpose.

1) Hi Jon. Nothing wrong with your answer. The job of soil scientist is basically giving people bad news! You asked for input, so I'll give you some in bits and chunks. AKA aggregate. 😉

11) That's all for now. I hope you found my comments useful. Good luck with your adjusting your PH!

5) When doing a soil remediation program involving PH, it's super important to dig a large number of deep holes for your samples, check for stratification and understand the native rocks. It's not unusual to find a pan 11-15" deep. Also not unusual to find a very high percentage of rock when you do deeper. Either of these can be a severe impediment to remediation.

2) Soil science is far more complicated than most people imagine. It's normal to want simple answers, but most of time they don't exist. A good place to begin is reading Soil Science For Gardeners by Robert Pavlis.

10) Adjusting PH with elemental sulfur is like trying to hit a moving target. I calculate how much I need, incorporate 1/3 of that, test again in four months and repeat. In my experience, it's a lot easier to "sneak up on it" than trying to get it perfect in one shot.

4) The studies you read do not have conflicting information. It can seem that way to newbies who don't understand the variables.

9) Don't waste your money on PH test kits from the garden center. Get a roll (or two) of Hydrion test paper for human urine/saliva, a pint jar and some distilled water. Remove any organic matter from the sample before putting it in the jar. I like to use 8 to 10 one tablespoon samples from various locations/depths. Cover with distilled water, shake it up and let it sit for at least 20 minutes before testing.

Youre on the right track. But you forgot the key process of chemistry. Sulfur in presence of water and heat will react to form sulfates without the need of bacteria. And being water soluble they leach and disappear. The use of buffers such as baking soda helps keep the pH stable. The main thing is learn the chemistry and biology al9ng with regular testing.

7) People often refer to soil as clay or sand, but technically that's incorrect. A more accurate way is to give the percentage. For example, there's a big difference in soil that's 32% clay and 40% clay. Measuring this is very simple with a primitive texture test. All that's required is your sample, a large translucent cylinder and water.