Soil pH in Schoolcraft, MI: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Schoolcraft, MI

Typical topsoil in Schoolcraft, MI is pH 5.28, 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 Schoolcraft 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 3 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test confirms pH near 5.28, 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 639,038 surveyed acres in Schoolcraft, MI, 65% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 17% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 17% are near neutral (6.5-7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 3.5 to 7.9, a spread of 4.4 units across 515 soil components. 65% 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 2.2% clay and 2.16% 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. 1% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Schoolcraft against the rest of Michigan

pH 5.28 is 0.76 below the Michigan median of 6.04. 17 of 83 Michigan counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more acidic than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Clare (5.21), Kalkaska (5.22), Iron (5.23), Muskegon (5.24), Wexford (5.34), Otsego (5.36), Montmorency (5.4), Grand Traverse (5.44).

The range in Michigan runs from Baraga at 4.72 to Huron at 7.03; Schoolcraft sits 24% of the way up.