The paper presents a method where the mor layer was sliced into 1 cm thick layers before measuring of pHH2Oand pHCaCl2. A significant decrease of pH with increasing depth was found. Except for the two deepest layers, 2–3 and 3–4 cm, pH of all layers were significantly different (p<0.001). There was a significant positive correlation between pH in adjacent cm‐layers within the cores. pHH2Oin the middle layer, 1–2 cm, showed a significant correlation with all other cm‐layers. This may indicate that a vertical influencing factor or factors determine the pH pattern, even in spots with deviating pH values compared to the sample plot mean. Alteration of the organic material during decomposition, leaching of organic acids and cation uptake are discussed as probable factors leading to the observed pH gradient. The preferability of calculating a mean pH value from untransformed logarithmic pH values was also confirmed.