Soil pH in Nemaha, NE: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Nemaha, NE

Typical topsoil in Nemaha, NE is pH 6.38, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Nemaha needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 3.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 4.8 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 3.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 3.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.38, 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 262,026 surveyed acres in Nemaha, NE, 49% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 43% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 9% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5.5 to 7.9, a spread of 2.4 units across 164 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 31.7% clay and 2.56% organic matter, which this site treats as clay. Moving it one pH unit takes about 11.5 lb of lime or 3.4 lb of sulfur per 100 sq ft. 11% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Nemaha against the rest of Nebraska

pH 6.38 is 0.37 below the Nebraska median of 6.75. 21 of 93 Nebraska counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Polk (6.26), Sarpy (6.3), Richardson (6.34), Butler (6.35), Antelope (6.46), Phelps (6.47), Hooker (6.52), Thomas (6.52).

The range in Nebraska runs from Fillmore at 5.88 to Scotts Bluff at 7.58; Nemaha sits 29% of the way up.