Soil pH in Marion, OH: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Marion, OH

Typical topsoil in Marion, OH is pH 6.45, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Marion needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 3.4 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 5.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 4.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; blue hydrangeas 4.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.45, 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 244,327 surveyed acres in Marion, OH, 71% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 29% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5.8 to 7.4, a spread of 1.6 units across 141 soil components. 71% 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 27.7% clay and 3.13% 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. 2% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Marion against the rest of Ohio

pH 6.45 is 0.37 above the Ohio median of 6.08. 70 of 88 Ohio counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Montgomery (6.44), Ottawa (6.44), Wyandot (6.44), Logan (6.45), Miami (6.45), Clark (6.46), Hardin (6.46), Mercer (6.46).

The range in Ohio runs from Monroe at 5.02 to Wood at 6.6; Marion sits 91% of the way up.