Soil pH in Oneida, WI: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Oneida, WI

Typical topsoil in Oneida, WI is pH 5.35, too acidic for vegetable garden. Expect roughly 3.6 lb of lime per 100 sq ft, but only after a soil test confirms it.

What Oneida needs, by plant

• Already in range: potatoes, blueberries, azaleas and rhododendrons, blue hydrangeas.
• Just outside, test first: strawberries (off by 0.2).
• Lime: lawn (cool-season grass) 3.6 lb/100 sq ft; vegetable garden 3.6 lb/100 sq ft; tomatoes 3.6 lb/100 sq ft; roses 3.6 lb/100 sq ft; pink hydrangeas 2.7 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.35, spread about 36 lb of ground limestone per 1,000 sq ft of vegetable bed, ideally in fall.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 557,946 surveyed acres in Oneida, WI, 60% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 39% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 1% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4 to 7.8, a spread of 3.8 units across 199 soil components. 60% 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 5.9% clay and 3% 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. None of the mapped components carry free carbonate.

Oneida against the rest of Wisconsin

pH 5.35 is 0.73 below the Wisconsin median of 6.08. 4 of 72 Wisconsin counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Vilas (5.24), Wood (5.3), Bayfield (5.32), Burnett (5.35), Jackson (5.36), Juneau (5.38), Menominee (5.45), Washburn (5.45).

The range in Wisconsin runs from Iron at 5.16 to Washington at 6.88; Oneida sits 11% of the way up.