Soil pH in Dickinson, MI: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Dickinson, MI

Typical topsoil in Dickinson, MI is pH 5.89, just outside the 6-7 range for vegetable garden. Test first; it may need nothing.

What Dickinson needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• Just outside, test first: lawn (cool-season grass) (off by 0.1), vegetable garden (off by 0.1), roses (off by 0.1), pink hydrangeas (off by 0.1).
• Lime: tomatoes 1.8 lb/100 sq ft.
• Sulfur: blueberries 1.1 lb/100 sq ft; blue hydrangeas 0.7 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 5.89, 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 422,730 surveyed acres in Dickinson, MI, 72% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 14% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 13% are strongly acidic (below 5.5). Mapped soils run from pH 3.9 to 7.8, a spread of 3.9 units across 379 soil components. 72% 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 7.1% clay and 2.69% 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. 0% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Dickinson against the rest of Michigan

pH 5.89 is 0.15 below the Michigan median of 6.04. 37 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: Cheboygan (5.83), Mackinac (5.84), Emmet (5.88), Ottawa (5.88), Allegan (5.92), Delta (5.92), Montcalm (5.98), Mecosta (6.04).

The range in Michigan runs from Baraga at 4.72 to Huron at 7.03; Dickinson sits 51% of the way up.