Soil pH in Butler, NE: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Butler, NE

Typical topsoil in Butler, NE is pH 6.35, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Butler 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 6.35, 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 371,691 surveyed acres in Butler, NE, 60% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 28% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 11% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5.5 to 8.5, a spread of 3 units across 307 soil components. 60% 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 24.6% clay and 2.61% 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. 11% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Butler against the rest of Nebraska

pH 6.35 is 0.4 below the Nebraska median of 6.75. 20 of 93 Nebraska counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Johnson (6.24), Polk (6.26), Sarpy (6.3), Richardson (6.34), Nemaha (6.38), Antelope (6.46), Phelps (6.47), Hooker (6.52).

The range in Nebraska runs from Fillmore at 5.88 to Scotts Bluff at 7.58; Butler sits 28% of the way up.