Soil pH in Polk, NE: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Polk, NE

Typical topsoil in Polk, NE is pH 6.26, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Polk needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 1.8 lb/100 sq ft; blueberries 3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.26, 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 278,861 surveyed acres in Polk, NE, 68% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 22% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 9% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5.4 to 8.2, a spread of 2.8 units across 180 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 21.6% clay and 2.65% 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. 18% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Polk against the rest of Nebraska

pH 6.26 is 0.49 below the Nebraska median of 6.75. 17 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: Pawnee (6.2), Adams (6.23), Saunders (6.23), Johnson (6.24), Sarpy (6.3), Richardson (6.34), Butler (6.35), Nemaha (6.38).

The range in Nebraska runs from Fillmore at 5.88 to Scotts Bluff at 7.58; Polk sits 22% of the way up.