Soil pH in Haines Borough, AK: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Haines Borough, AK

Typical topsoil in Haines Borough, AK is pH 5.1, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 9.8 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Haines Borough needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas.
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 9.8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; vegetable garden 9.8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; tomatoes 9.8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; strawberries 6.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 9.8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 8.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.1, spread about 98 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 2 doses, ideally in fall.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 128,519 surveyed acres in Haines Borough, AK, 94% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 6% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 3.9 to 7.9, a spread of 4 units across 72 soil components. 94% 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 8.3% clay and 7.18% organic matter, which this site treats as loam. At 7.18% organic matter the soil buffers like a heavier one, which pushes it into the loam bracket. Moving it one pH unit takes about 7 lb of lime or 2.3 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 0% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Haines Borough against the rest of Alaska

pH 5.1 is 0.16 below the Alaska median of 5.26. 9 of 27 Alaska counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Dillingham Census Area (4.94), Wrangell-Petersburg Census Area (4.94), Kodiak Island Borough (4.96), Kusilvak Census Area (old Wade Hampton) (5.04), Valdez-Cordova Census Area (5.15), Matanuska-Susitna Borough (5.2), Northwest Arctic Borough (5.23), Kusilvak Census Area (5.26).

The range in Alaska runs from Ketchikan Gateway Borough at 4.52 to Yakutat City and Borough at 6.08; Haines Borough sits 37% of the way up.