Soil pH in Mercer, ND: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Mercer, ND

Typical topsoil in Mercer, ND is pH 7.01, just outside the 6-7 range for vegetable garden. Test first; it may need nothing.

What Mercer needs, by plant

• Just outside, test first: lawn (cool-season grass) (off by 0), vegetable garden (off by 0), tomatoes (off by 0.2), roses (off by 0).
• Sulfur: potatoes 3.5 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; strawberries 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 4.6 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 4.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; blue hydrangeas 4.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; pink hydrangeas 1.8 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 7.01, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 643,442 surveyed acres in Mercer, ND, 80% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 17% are alkaline (above 7.3), 3% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 6 to 8.8, a spread of 2.8 units across 836 soil components. 80% 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 21.2% clay and 3.24% 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. 22% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Mercer against the rest of North Dakota

pH 7.01 is 0.19 below the North Dakota median of 7.2. 9 of 53 North Dakota counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Stark (6.94), Oliver (6.96), Morton (6.97), Emmons (6.98), Dunn (7.05), Rolette (7.05), Renville (7.07), Bottineau (7.1).

The range in North Dakota runs from Grant at 6.85 to Pembina at 7.5; Mercer sits 25% of the way up.