Soil pH in Howard, NE: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Howard, NE

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

What Howard needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.
• Sulfur: potatoes 3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; strawberries 1.8 lb/100 sq ft; blueberries 4.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 3.5 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 3.5 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 1.2 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 362,616 surveyed acres in Howard, NE, 66% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 23% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 10% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5.2 to 8.8, a spread of 3.6 units across 336 soil components. 66% 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 18.4% clay and 2.05% 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. 24% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Howard against the rest of Nebraska

pH 6.75 is right at the Nebraska median of 6.75. 46 of 93 Nebraska counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Franklin (6.72), Washington (6.72), Cuming (6.73), Gosper (6.75), Boone (6.79), Keya Paha (6.79), Madison (6.79), Valley (6.81).

The range in Nebraska runs from Fillmore at 5.88 to Scotts Bluff at 7.58; Howard sits 51% of the way up.