Soil pH in Hutchinson, SD: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Hutchinson, SD

Typical topsoil in Hutchinson, SD is pH 6.85, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Hutchinson needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, roses.
• Just outside, test first: tomatoes (off by 0).
• 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 3.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 3.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 1.4 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.85, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 797,918 surveyed acres in Hutchinson, SD, 83% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 17% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 6 to 8.2, a spread of 2.2 units across 330 soil components. 83% 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 23.2% clay and 3.53% 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. 18% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Hutchinson against the rest of South Dakota

pH 6.85 is 0.14 below the South Dakota median of 6.99. 14 of 66 South Dakota counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Sanborn (6.84), Turner (6.84), Charles Mix (6.85), Hanson (6.85), Walworth (6.85), Hyde (6.87), McCook (6.89), Minnehaha (6.89).

The range in South Dakota runs from Lawrence at 6.49 to Jones at 7.47; Hutchinson sits 37% of the way up.