Soil pH in Kosciusko, IN: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Kosciusko, IN

Typical topsoil in Kosciusko, IN is pH 6.46, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Kosciusko needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 3.5 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 6.46, 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 314,507 surveyed acres in Kosciusko, IN, 68% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 32% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 1% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5.6 to 7.9, a spread of 2.3 units across 176 soil components. 68% 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% clay and 2.6% 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. 1% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Kosciusko against the rest of Indiana

pH 6.46 is 0.11 above the Indiana median of 6.35. 66 of 92 Indiana counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Wayne (6.44), De Kalb (6.45), Huntington (6.45), Grant (6.46), Marshall (6.46), Steuben (6.47), Fountain (6.48), Randolph (6.48).

The range in Indiana runs from Brown at 4.97 to Hamilton at 6.74; Kosciusko sits 84% of the way up.