Soil pH in Cheboygan, MI: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Cheboygan, MI

Typical topsoil in Cheboygan, MI is pH 5.83, just outside the 6-7 range for vegetable garden. Test first; it may need nothing.

What Cheboygan needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Just outside, test first: lawn (cool-season grass) (off by 0.2), vegetable garden (off by 0.2), roses (off by 0.2), pink hydrangeas (off by 0.2).
• Lime: tomatoes 2.1 lb/100 sq ft.
• Sulfur: blueberries 1 lb/100 sq ft; blue hydrangeas 0.7 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 5.83, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, potatoes, strawberries, roses, azaleas and rhododendrons, pink hydrangeas.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 401,114 surveyed acres in Cheboygan, MI, 42% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 33% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 22% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 3% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.1 to 7.9, a spread of 3.8 units across 255 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 6.8% clay and 3.11% organic matter, which this site treats as sandy. Moving it one pH unit takes about 3 lb of lime or 1.2 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 7% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Cheboygan against the rest of Michigan

pH 5.83 is 0.21 below the Michigan median of 6.04. 33 of 83 Michigan counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Mason (5.72), Alcona (5.73), Osceola (5.75), Newaygo (5.82), Mackinac (5.84), Emmet (5.88), Ottawa (5.88), Dickinson (5.89).

The range in Michigan runs from Baraga at 4.72 to Huron at 7.03; Cheboygan sits 48% of the way up.