Soil pH in Montcalm, MI: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Montcalm, MI

Typical topsoil in Montcalm, MI is pH 5.98, just outside the 6-7 range for vegetable garden. Test first; it may need nothing.

What Montcalm needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, strawberries, azaleas and rhododendrons.
• 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), pink hydrangeas (off by 0).
• Sulfur: blueberries 1.2 lb/100 sq ft; blue hydrangeas 0.8 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 5.98, 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 387,740 surveyed acres in Montcalm, MI, 66% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 21% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 12% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 1% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.7 to 8.2, a spread of 3.5 units across 154 soil components. 66% 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 8% clay and 2.16% 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).

Montcalm against the rest of Michigan

pH 5.98 is 0.06 below the Michigan median of 6.04. 40 of 83 Michigan counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Ottawa (5.88), Dickinson (5.89), Allegan (5.92), Delta (5.92), Mecosta (6.04), Gladwin (6.05), Midland (6.05), Alpena (6.09).

The range in Michigan runs from Baraga at 4.72 to Huron at 7.03; Montcalm sits 55% of the way up.