Soil pH in Koochiching, MN: Lime or Sulfur?
Typical topsoil pH in Koochiching, MN
Typical topsoil in Koochiching, MN is pH 6.16, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.
What Koochiching needs, by plant
- Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
- Just outside, test first: tomatoes (off by 0), potatoes (off by 0.2), azaleas and rhododendrons (off by 0.2).
- Sulfur: blueberries 4.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; blue hydrangeas 3.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.
What to do next
If your test lands near 6.16, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, roses, azaleas and rhododendrons, pink hydrangeas.
How mixed the soil is
Of the 1,514,366 surveyed acres in Koochiching, MN, 57% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 17% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 16% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 11% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.2 to 8, a spread of 3.8 units across 643 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 17.9% clay and 6.2% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. At 6.2% organic matter the soil buffers like a heavier one, which pushes it into the clay bracket. Moving it one pH unit takes about 11.5 lb of lime or 3.4 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 11% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).
Koochiching against the rest of Minnesota
pH 6.16 is 0.48 below the Minnesota median of 6.64. 19 of 87 Minnesota counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.
Closest in pH within the state: Aitkin (6.06), Sherburne (6.07), Washington (6.09), Hubbard (6.13), Ramsey (6.16), Todd (6.34), Wadena (6.35), Fillmore (6.39).
The range in Minnesota runs from Cook at 5.21 to Swift at 7.49; Koochiching sits 42% of the way up.