Soil pH in McPherson, NE: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in McPherson, NE

Typical topsoil in McPherson, NE is pH 6.54, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What McPherson needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.
• Just outside, test first: strawberries (off by 0), pink hydrangeas (off by 0).
• Sulfur: potatoes 1.2 lb/100 sq ft; blueberries 1.8 lb/100 sq ft; azaleas and rhododendrons 1.6 lb/100 sq ft; blue hydrangeas 1.6 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.54, 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 550,051 surveyed acres in McPherson, NE, 98% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 2% are alkaline (above 7.3), 1% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 5.8 to 9.2, a spread of 3.4 units across 164 soil components. 98% 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 3.8% clay and 0.95% organic matter, which this site treats as sandy. Moving it one pH unit takes about 3 lb of lime or 1.2 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 2% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

McPherson against the rest of Nebraska

pH 6.54 is 0.21 below the Nebraska median of 6.75. 27 of 93 Nebraska counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Hooker (6.52), Thomas (6.52), Blaine (6.53), Brown (6.54), Pierce (6.54), Arthur (6.56), Holt (6.56), Grant (6.57).

The range in Nebraska runs from Fillmore at 5.88 to Scotts Bluff at 7.58; McPherson sits 39% of the way up.