Soil pH in Lincoln, MO: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Lincoln, MO

Typical topsoil in Lincoln, MO is pH 6.19, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Lincoln 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 2.8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 2.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.19, 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 399,403 surveyed acres in Lincoln, MO, 62% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 34% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 3% are alkaline (above 7.3), 1% are strongly acidic (below 5.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4.6 to 7.7, a spread of 3.1 units across 136 soil components. 62% 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 21.7% clay and 2.5% 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. 3% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Lincoln against the rest of Missouri

pH 6.19 is 0.06 above the Missouri median of 6.13. 62 of 114 Missouri counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Jefferson (6.15), Howard (6.16), Pike (6.17), Taney (6.18), DeKalb (6.21), Pemiscot (6.21), Mississippi (6.22), New Madrid (6.22).

The range in Missouri runs from Carter at 5.08 to Knox at 6.71; Lincoln sits 68% of the way up.