Soil pH in Mercer, MO: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Mercer, MO

Typical topsoil in Mercer, MO is pH 6.51, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Mercer 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 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 3.5 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.51, 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 289,566 surveyed acres in Mercer, MO, 61% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 39% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 4.8 to 7.7, a spread of 2.9 units across 148 soil components. 61% 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 23.1% clay and 2.88% 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. 1% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Mercer against the rest of Missouri

pH 6.51 is 0.38 above the Missouri median of 6.13. 102 of 114 Missouri counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Daviess (6.49), Clay (6.5), Platte (6.5), Audrain (6.51), Shelby (6.51), Buchanan (6.52), Linn (6.52), Chariton (6.56).

The range in Missouri runs from Carter at 5.08 to Knox at 6.71; Mercer sits 88% of the way up.