Soil pH in Meeker, MN: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Meeker, MN

Typical topsoil in Meeker, MN is pH 6.86, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Meeker needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, roses.
• Just outside, test first: tomatoes (off by 0.1).
• Sulfur: potatoes 4.8 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; strawberries 3.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 6.5 lb/100 sq ft over 4 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 5.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; blue hydrangeas 5.4 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; pink hydrangeas 2 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.86, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 364,634 surveyed acres in Meeker, MN, 65% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 23% are alkaline (above 7.3), 12% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 5.9 to 7.9, a spread of 2 units across 468 soil components. 65% 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 24.5% clay and 5.47% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. At 5.47% organic matter the soil buffers like a heavier one, which pushes it into the clay bracket. Moving it one pH unit takes about 11.5 lb of lime or 3.4 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 27% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Meeker against the rest of Minnesota

pH 6.86 is 0.22 above the Minnesota median of 6.64. 57 of 87 Minnesota counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Brown (6.82), Nicollet (6.82), Sibley (6.84), Watonwan (6.84), Pipestone (6.86), Murray (6.89), McLeod (6.9), Martin (6.94).

The range in Minnesota runs from Cook at 5.21 to Swift at 7.49; Meeker sits 72% of the way up.