Soil pH in Carson City, NV: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Carson City, NV

Typical topsoil in Carson City, NV is pH 6.85, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Carson City needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, roses.
• Just outside, test first: tomatoes (off by 0).
• Sulfur: potatoes 3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; strawberries 1.8 lb/100 sq ft; blueberries 4.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 3.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 3.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 1.4 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.85, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 74,986 surveyed acres in Carson City, NV, 54% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 29% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 16% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5 to 10.1, a spread of 5.1 units across 409 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 11.2% clay and 2.06% 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. 4% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Carson City against the rest of Nevada

pH 6.85 is 0.93 below the Nevada median of 7.78. 0 of 17 Nevada counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Douglas (6.87), Storey (7.25), Washoe (7.25), Lyon (7.58).