Soil pH in Lake, MN: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Lake, MN

Typical topsoil in Lake, MN is pH 5.36, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 12.7 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Lake needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas.
• Just outside, test first: strawberries (off by 0.1).
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 12.7 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; vegetable garden 12.7 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; tomatoes 12.7 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; roses 12.7 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; pink hydrangeas 10.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.36, spread about 127 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed in 3 doses, ideally in fall.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 1,111,774 surveyed acres in Lake, MN, 48% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 46% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 6% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.6 to 7.9, a spread of 3.3 units across 658 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 12.1% clay and 5.76% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. At 5.76% 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. 0% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Lake against the rest of Minnesota

pH 5.36 is 1.28 below the Minnesota median of 6.64. 2 of 87 Minnesota counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Cook (5.21), Crow Wing (5.35), St. Louis (5.5), Carlton (5.59), Pine (5.84), Chisago (5.87).

The range in Minnesota runs from Cook at 5.21 to Swift at 7.49; Lake sits 7% of the way up.