Soil pH in Ramsey, MN: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Ramsey, MN

Typical topsoil in Ramsey, MN is pH 6.16, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Ramsey needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Just outside, test first: tomatoes (off by 0), potatoes (off by 0.2), azaleas and rhododendrons (off by 0.2).
• Sulfur: blueberries 2.8 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 2.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.16, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, roses, azaleas and rhododendrons, pink hydrangeas.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 47,765 surveyed acres in Ramsey, MN, 58% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 33% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 8% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 2% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 5 to 7.5, a spread of 2.5 units across 181 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 10.1% clay and 2.54% 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. 2% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Ramsey against the rest of Minnesota

pH 6.16 is 0.48 below the Minnesota median of 6.64. 19 of 87 Minnesota counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Sherburne (6.07), Washington (6.09), Hubbard (6.13), Koochiching (6.16), Todd (6.34), Wadena (6.35), Fillmore (6.39), Dakota (6.4).

The range in Minnesota runs from Cook at 5.21 to Swift at 7.49; Ramsey sits 42% of the way up.