Soil pH in Des Moines, IA: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Des Moines, IA

Typical topsoil in Des Moines, IA is pH 6.34, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Des Moines 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 6.34, 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 256,218 surveyed acres in Des Moines, IA, 60% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 40% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.2 to 7.9, a spread of 3.7 units across 215 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 25.1% clay and 3% 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. 1% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Des Moines against the rest of Iowa

pH 6.34 is right at the Iowa median of 6.36. 40 of 99 Iowa counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Tama (6.33), Carroll (6.34), Clinton (6.34), Delaware (6.34), Linn (6.34), Benton (6.35), Black Hawk (6.35), Buchanan (6.36).

The range in Iowa runs from Van Buren at 6.02 to Monona at 7.11; Des Moines sits 29% of the way up.