Soil pH in Weber, UT: Lime or Sulfur?

Typical topsoil pH in Weber, UT

Typical topsoil in Weber, UT is pH 7.09, just outside the 6-7 range for vegetable garden. Test first; it may need nothing.

What Weber needs, by plant

• Just outside, test first: lawn (cool-season grass) (off by 0.1), vegetable garden (off by 0.1), roses (off by 0.1).
• Sulfur: tomatoes 1.4 lb/100 sq ft; potatoes 3.7 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; strawberries 2.5 lb/100 sq ft over 2 applications; blueberries 4.8 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; azaleas and rhododendrons 4.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; blue hydrangeas 4.1 lb/100 sq ft over 3 applications; pink hydrangeas 1.8 lb/100 sq ft.

What to do next

If your test lands near 7.09, you can skip lime and sulfur for lawn (cool-season grass), vegetable garden, roses.

How mixed the soil is

Of the 289,277 surveyed acres in Weber, UT, 40% are near neutral (6.5-7.3), 33% are alkaline (above 7.3), 28% are moderately acidic (5.5-6.5). Mapped soils run from pH 5.8 to 9.9, a spread of 4.1 units across 294 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 19.8% clay and 3.24% 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. 27% of mapped components carry free carbonate (lime already in the ground).

Weber against the rest of Utah

pH 7.09 is 0.86 below the Utah median of 7.95. 3 of 29 Utah counties have more acidic topsoil. Nationally it is more alkaline than the US county median of 6.05.

Closest in pH within the state: Morgan (6.66), Wasatch (6.77), Summit (6.95), Cache (7.13), Salt Lake (7.57), Davis (7.61), Daggett (7.69).

The range in Utah runs from Morgan at 6.66 to Millard at 8.44; Weber sits 24% of the way up.