Soil pH in Kimball, NE: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Kimball, NE

Typical topsoil in Kimball, NE is pH 7.35, too alkaline for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 1.8 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Kimball needs, by plant

• Sulfur: lawn (cool-season grass) 1.8 lb/100 sq ft; vegetable garden 1.8 lb/100 sq ft; tomatoes 1.8 lb/100 sq ft; potatoes 4.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; strawberries 3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; roses 1.8 lb/100 sq ft; blueberries 5.3 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; pink hydrangeas 2.5 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 7.35, work in about 18 lb of elemental sulfur per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 605,749 surveyed acres in Kimball, NE, 65% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 35% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 6.3 to 7.9, a spread of 1.6 units across 157 soil components. 65% 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 13.1% clay and 1.64% 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. 30% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Kimball against the rest of Nebraska

pH 7.35 is 0.6 above the Nebraska median of 6.75. 89 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: Hayes (7.18), Dakota (7.24), Sioux (7.27), Hitchcock (7.3), Banner (7.38), Dawes (7.4), Scotts Bluff (7.58).

The range in Nebraska runs from Fillmore at 5.88 to Scotts Bluff at 7.58; Kimball sits 86% of the way up.