Soil pH in Bates, MO: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Bates, MO

Typical topsoil in Bates, MO is pH 6.33, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Bates needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 1.8 lb/100 sq ft; blueberries 3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 2.5 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 2.5 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.33, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 537,451 surveyed acres in Bates, MO, 70% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 29% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 1% are strongly acidic (below 5.5). Mapped soils run from pH 5 to 7.3, a spread of 2.3 units across 119 soil components. 70% 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 25.4% clay and 2.86% 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. 5% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Bates against the rest of Missouri

pH 6.33 is 0.2 above the Missouri median of 6.13. 81 of 114 Missouri counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Nodaway (6.3), Boone (6.31), Lewis (6.31), Scotland (6.31), Pettis (6.33), Putnam (6.33), Ralls (6.34), Caldwell (6.35).

The range in Missouri runs from Carter at 5.08 to Knox at 6.71; Bates sits 77% of the way up.