Soil pH in McHenry, ND: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in McHenry, ND

Typical topsoil in McHenry, ND is pH 7.17, just outside the 6-7 range for vegetable garden. Test first; it may need nothing.

What McHenry needs, by plant

• Just outside, test first: lawn (cool-season grass) (off by 0.2), vegetable garden (off by 0.2), roses (off by 0.2).
• Beds or pots instead: tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas, pink hydrangeas.

What to do next

If your test lands near 7.17, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, roses.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 1,206,886 surveyed acres in McHenry, ND, 72% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 28% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 6.5 to 8.2, a spread of 1.7 units across 1,798 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 14.9% clay and 3.52% 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. 34% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground), enough that sulfur gets neutralised before it does much.

McHenry against the rest of North Dakota

pH 7.17 is right at the North Dakota median of 7.2. 19 of 53 North 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: McLean (7.16), Ward (7.16), Cavalier (7.17), Dickey (7.17), McIntosh (7.17), Sargent (7.17), Kidder (7.19), McKenzie (7.19).

The range in North Dakota runs from Grant at 6.85 to Pembina at 7.5; McHenry sits 49% of the way up.