Soil pH in Menominee, MI: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Menominee, MI

Typical topsoil in Menominee, MI is pH 6.36, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Menominee needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 1.1 lb/100 sq ft; blueberries 1.7 lb/100 sq ft; azaleas and rhododendrons 1.3 lb/100 sq ft; blue hydrangeas 1.3 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.36, 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 485,294 surveyed acres in Menominee, MI, 68% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 20% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 10% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 2% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4 to 7.8, a spread of 3.8 units across 330 soil components. 68% 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 9% clay and 3.89% 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. 3% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Menominee against the rest of Michigan

pH 6.36 is 0.32 above the Michigan median of 6.04. 58 of 83 Michigan counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Kent (6.27), Presque Isle (6.27), Isabella (6.31), Branch (6.32), Arenac (6.37), Eaton (6.37), Hillsdale (6.39), Jackson (6.4).

The range in Michigan runs from Baraga at 4.72 to Huron at 7.03; Menominee sits 71% of the way up.