Soil pH in Benson, ND: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Benson, ND

Typical topsoil in Benson, ND is pH 7.28 and calcareous, so sulfur won't lower it for long. For vegetable garden, choose alkaline-tolerant varieties and add compost rather than fighting the soil.

What Benson needs, by plant

• Beds or pots instead: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, roses, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas, pink hydrangeas.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 7.28, consider raised beds for anything acid-loving; with 44% of soils here carrying free lime, sulfur will not hold.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 897,035 surveyed acres in Benson, ND, 59% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 40% are alkaline (above 7.3), 1% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 6.1 to 8.2, a spread of 2.1 units across 2,379 soil components. No single class covers 60% of the county, so two gardens a few miles apart here can need opposite treatments. Test your own bed.

Clay, organic matter and rates

Topsoil here averages 20.3% clay and 4.4% 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. 44% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground), enough that sulfur gets neutralised before it does much.

Benson against the rest of North Dakota

pH 7.28 is 0.08 above the North Dakota median of 7.2. 42 of 53 North Dakota counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Divide (7.27), Nelson (7.27), Ramsey (7.27), Towner (7.27), Richland (7.28), Mountrail (7.29), Cass (7.3), Foster (7.31).

The range in North Dakota runs from Grant at 6.85 to Pembina at 7.5; Benson sits 66% of the way up.