Soil pH in Emmet, MI: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Emmet, MI

Typical topsoil in Emmet, MI is pH 5.88, just outside the 6-7 range for vegetable garden. Test first; it may need nothing.

What Emmet 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 5.88, 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 264,029 surveyed acres in Emmet, MI, 74% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 16% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 10% are strongly acidic (below 5.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4.1 to 7.5, a spread of 3.4 units across 192 soil components. 74% 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 6.9% clay and 2.49% 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. None of the mapped components carry free carbonate.

Emmet against the rest of Michigan

pH 5.88 is 0.16 below the Michigan median of 6.04. 35 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: Osceola (5.75), Newaygo (5.82), Cheboygan (5.83), Mackinac (5.84), Ottawa (5.88), Dickinson (5.89), Allegan (5.92), Delta (5.92).

The range in Michigan runs from Baraga at 4.72 to Huron at 7.03; Emmet sits 50% of the way up.