Soil pH in Midland, MI: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Midland, MI

Typical topsoil in Midland, MI is pH 6.05, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Midland needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Just outside, test first: tomatoes (off by 0.2), potatoes (off by 0), azaleas and rhododendrons (off by 0).
• Sulfur: blueberries 1.2 lb/100 sq ft; blue hydrangeas 1 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.05, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, roses, azaleas and rhododendrons, pink hydrangeas.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 328,879 surveyed acres in Midland, MI, 53% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 20% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 18% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 10% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.6 to 8.2, a spread of 3.6 units across 240 soil components. No single class covers 60% of the county, so two gardens a few miles apart here can need opposite treatments. Test your own bed.

Clay, organic matter and rates

Topsoil here averages 9.6% clay and 3.68% 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. 1% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Midland against the rest of Michigan

pH 6.05 is right at the Michigan median of 6.04. 42 of 83 Michigan counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is level with than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Delta (5.92), Montcalm (5.98), Mecosta (6.04), Gladwin (6.05), Alpena (6.09), Cass (6.11), Charlevoix (6.11), Kalamazoo (6.12).

The range in Michigan runs from Baraga at 4.72 to Huron at 7.03; Midland sits 58% of the way up.