Soil pH in Faribault, MN: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Faribault, MN

Typical topsoil in Faribault, MN is pH 6.75, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Faribault needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.
• Sulfur: potatoes 4.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; strawberries 2.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 6.1 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 5.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; blue hydrangeas 5.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; pink hydrangeas 1.7 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.75, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 445,254 surveyed acres in Faribault, MN, 50% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 26% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 24% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5.8 to 7.9, a spread of 2.1 units across 180 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 31.6% clay and 6.03% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. At 6.03% organic matter the soil buffers like a heavier one, which pushes it into the clay bracket. Moving it one pH unit takes about 11.5 lb of lime or 3.4 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 23% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Faribault against the rest of Minnesota

pH 6.75 is 0.11 above the Minnesota median of 6.64. 52 of 87 Minnesota counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Scott (6.7), Cottonwood (6.72), Jackson (6.72), Otter Tail (6.73), Brown (6.82), Nicollet (6.82), Sibley (6.84), Watonwan (6.84).

The range in Minnesota runs from Cook at 5.21 to Swift at 7.49; Faribault sits 68% of the way up.