Soil pH in Hamilton, NE: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Hamilton, NE

Typical topsoil in Hamilton, NE is pH 6.04, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Hamilton needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Just outside, test first: tomatoes (off by 0.2), potatoes (off by 0), azaleas and rhododendrons (off by 0).
• Sulfur: blueberries 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 1.8 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.04, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, roses, azaleas and rhododendrons, pink hydrangeas.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 346,810 surveyed acres in Hamilton, NE, 80% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 18% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 2% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5.4 to 7.9, a spread of 2.5 units across 167 soil components. 80% 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 23.8% clay and 2.68% 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. 3% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Hamilton against the rest of Nebraska

pH 6.04 is 0.71 below the Nebraska median of 6.75. 4 of 93 Nebraska counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Fillmore (5.88), Clay (5.94), York (5.98), Saline (6), Jefferson (6.09), Lancaster (6.09), Thayer (6.1), Cass (6.11).

The range in Nebraska runs from Fillmore at 5.88 to Scotts Bluff at 7.58; Hamilton sits 9% of the way up.