Soil pH in Meagher, MT: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Meagher, MT

Typical topsoil in Meagher, MT is pH 6.47, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Meagher needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 3.5 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 2.8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 2.8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.47, 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 110,312 surveyed acres in Meagher, MT, 60% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 31% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 5% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 4% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5.2 to 8.2, a spread of 3 units across 118 soil components. 60% 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 13.3% clay and 1.89% 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. 2% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Meagher against the rest of Montana

pH 6.47 is 0.83 below the Montana median of 7.3. 12 of 56 Montana counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Granite (6.37), Sanders (6.37), Madison (6.46), Powell (6.46), Lake (6.69), Lewis and Clark (6.78), Beaverhead (6.79), Gallatin (6.85).

The range in Montana runs from Flathead at 6.02 to Wheatland at 7.77; Meagher sits 26% of the way up.