Soil pH in Shelby, MO: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Shelby, MO

Typical topsoil in Shelby, MO is pH 6.51, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Shelby needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, roses.
• Just outside, test first: strawberries (off by 0), pink hydrangeas (off by 0).
• Sulfur: potatoes 2.3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 3.5 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blue hydrangeas 3 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications.

What to do next

If your test lands near 6.51, 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 319,792 surveyed acres in Shelby, MO, 68% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 28% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 2% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 2% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.7 to 7.9, a spread of 3.2 units across 160 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 20.4% clay and 2.19% 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. None of the mapped components carry free carbonate.

Shelby against the rest of Missouri

pH 6.51 is 0.38 above the Missouri median of 6.13. 102 of 114 Missouri counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Clay (6.5), Platte (6.5), Audrain (6.51), Mercer (6.51), Buchanan (6.52), Linn (6.52), Chariton (6.56), Ray (6.61).

The range in Missouri runs from Carter at 5.08 to Knox at 6.71; Shelby sits 88% of the way up.