Soil pH in Teller, CO: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Teller, CO

Typical topsoil in Teller, CO is pH 6.41, already right for vegetable garden (6-7). Test before adding anything.

What Teller needs, by plant

• Already in range: lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, pink hydrangeas.
• Sulfur: potatoes 2.1 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 3.2 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 6.41, 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 300,366 surveyed acres in Teller, CO, 48% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5), 40% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 8% are strongly acidic (below 5.5), 5% are alkaline (above 7.3). Mapped soils run from pH 4.9 to 8, a spread of 3.1 units across 191 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 13.6% 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. 5% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Teller against the rest of Colorado

pH 6.41 is 0.76 below the Colorado median of 7.17. 5 of 63 Colorado counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Hinsdale (5.93), Clear Creek (6), Gilpin (6.24), Lake (6.37), Grand (6.42), Summit (6.42), San Miguel (6.54), Gunnison (6.6).

The range in Colorado runs from San Juan at 5.53 to Alamosa at 8.28; Teller sits 32% of the way up.