Soil pH in Racine, WI: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Racine, WI

Typical topsoil in Racine, WI is pH 6.49, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Racine needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 3.5 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 2.8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 2.8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.49, 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 188,651 surveyed acres in Racine, WI, 62% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 35% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 3% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 1% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5.3 to 8.2, a spread of 2.9 units across 208 soil components. 62% 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 23.4% clay and 3.22% 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. 9% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Racine against the rest of Wisconsin

pH 6.49 is 0.41 above the Wisconsin median of 6.08. 49 of 72 Wisconsin counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Grant (6.39), Iowa (6.39), Marquette (6.42), Kenosha (6.47), Lafayette (6.5), Green (6.53), Dane (6.54), Columbia (6.55).

The range in Wisconsin runs from Iron at 5.16 to Washington at 6.88; Racine sits 77% of the way up.