Soil pH in Holt, MO: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Holt, MO

Typical topsoil in Holt, MO is pH 6.66, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Holt needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.
• Just outside, test first: strawberries (off by 0.2), pink hydrangeas (off by 0.2).
• Sulfur: potatoes 4.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; blueberries 5.8 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 4.8 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; blue hydrangeas 4.8 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.66, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 291,766 surveyed acres in Holt, MO, 44% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 27% are alkaline (above 7.3), 24% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 5% are strongly acidic (below 5.5). Mapped soils run from pH 5 to 7.9, a spread of 2.9 units across 183 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 31.2% clay and 3.02% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. Moving it one pH unit takes about 11.5 lb of lime or 3.4 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 24% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Holt against the rest of Missouri

pH 6.66 is 0.53 above the Missouri median of 6.13. 112 of 114 Missouri counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Ray (6.61), St. Charles (6.61), Atchison (6.62), Saline (6.64), Knox (6.71).

The range in Missouri runs from Carter at 5.08 to Knox at 6.71; Holt sits 97% of the way up.