Soil pH in Monroe, MI: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Monroe, MI

Typical topsoil in Monroe, MI is pH 6.67, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Monroe needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.
• Just outside, test first: strawberries (off by 0.2), pink hydrangeas (off by 0.2).
• Sulfur: potatoes 2.8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 3.9 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 3.2 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 3.2 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.67, 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 348,408 surveyed acres in Monroe, MI, 82% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 14% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 4% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5.7 to 8, a spread of 2.3 units across 187 soil components. 82% 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 18.6% clay and 3.7% 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. 4% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Monroe against the rest of Michigan

pH 6.67 is 0.63 above the Michigan median of 6.04. 74 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: St. Clair (6.54), Genesee (6.57), Shiawassee (6.57), Lenawee (6.61), Gratiot (6.78), Macomb (6.8), Sanilac (6.91), Wayne (6.93).

The range in Michigan runs from Baraga at 4.72 to Huron at 7.03; Monroe sits 84% of the way up.