Soil pH in Jackson, IA: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Jackson, IA

Typical topsoil in Jackson, IA is pH 6.41, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Jackson needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 2.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 3.2 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 2.8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 2.8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.41, 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 390,030 surveyed acres in Jackson, IA, 59% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 37% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 4% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5.6 to 8, a spread of 2.4 units across 348 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 20.8% clay and 2.31% 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. 4% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Jackson against the rest of Iowa

pH 6.41 is 0.05 above the Iowa median of 6.36. 62 of 99 Iowa counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Chickasaw (6.4), Dubuque (6.4), Fayette (6.4), Bremer (6.41), Jones (6.41), Clayton (6.45), Allamakee (6.46), Floyd (6.46).

The range in Iowa runs from Van Buren at 6.02 to Monona at 7.11; Jackson sits 36% of the way up.