Soil pH in Lake, CO: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Lake, CO

Typical topsoil in Lake, CO is pH 6.37, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Lake 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 2.5 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 2.5 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.37, 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 57,938 surveyed acres in Lake, CO, 72% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 22% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 6% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 1% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5 to 7.5, a spread of 2.5 units across 15 soil components. 72% 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 10.7% clay and 1.45% 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).

Lake against the rest of Colorado

pH 6.37 is 0.8 below the Colorado median of 7.17. 4 of 63 Colorado counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: San Juan (5.53), Hinsdale (5.93), Clear Creek (6), Gilpin (6.24), Teller (6.41), Grand (6.42), Summit (6.42), San Miguel (6.54).

The range in Colorado runs from San Juan at 5.53 to Alamosa at 8.28; Lake sits 31% of the way up.