Soil pH in Lincoln, SD: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Lincoln, SD

Typical topsoil in Lincoln, SD is pH 6.76, 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, tomatoes, roses.
• Sulfur: potatoes 4.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; strawberries 2.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 6.1 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 5.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; blue hydrangeas 5.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; pink hydrangeas 1.7 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.76, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 368,885 surveyed acres in Lincoln, SD, 89% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 10% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5.6 to 8.2, a spread of 2.6 units across 208 soil components. 89% 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 30.3% clay and 4.23% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. Moving it one pH unit takes about 11.5 lb of lime or 3.4 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 15% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Lincoln against the rest of South Dakota

pH 6.76 is 0.23 below the South Dakota median of 6.99. 3 of 66 South Dakota counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Lawrence (6.49), Sully (6.64), Lake (6.71), Douglas (6.76), Moody (6.78), Potter (6.78), Hughes (6.8), Beadle (6.82).

The range in South Dakota runs from Lawrence at 6.49 to Jones at 7.47; Lincoln sits 28% of the way up.