Soil pH in Morton, ND: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Morton, ND

Typical topsoil in Morton, ND is pH 6.97, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Morton needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, roses.
• Just outside, test first: tomatoes (off by 0.2).
• 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 3.9 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 3.9 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; pink hydrangeas 1.6 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.97, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 1,225,019 surveyed acres in Morton, ND, 68% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 25% are alkaline (above 7.3), 7% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 6 to 8.8, a spread of 2.8 units across 868 soil components. 68% 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 21.9% clay and 2.91% 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. 27% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Morton against the rest of North Dakota

pH 6.97 is 0.23 below the North Dakota median of 7.2. 7 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: Hettinger (6.88), Bowman (6.94), Stark (6.94), Oliver (6.96), Emmons (6.98), Mercer (7.01), Dunn (7.05), Rolette (7.05).

The range in North Dakota runs from Grant at 6.85 to Pembina at 7.5; Morton sits 18% of the way up.