Can I Grow Almond in Arkansas?

Almond in Arkansas — the short answer

Arkansas is not one climate

Where in Arkansas Fits Best

Even within Arkansas's zones 6b-8b, county microclimates differ enough to change what thrives. These counties carry the closest zone match for almond (USDA PHZM 2023):

Zone Comparison

Plant data: Growable Ground Plant Database, compiled from FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS, and university Extension sources — per-field provenance varies and is published with the dataset. State data: USDA ARS PHZM 2023, NOAA Climate Normals, NRCS SSURGO.

When to Plant Almond in Arkansas

Frost window: NOAA Climate Normals 1991-2020. Plant timing fields: Growable Ground Plant Database — frost-free days from FAO ECOCROP, days to harvest from university Extension production guides, and growing-degree-day and chill-hour minimums that are compilation estimates rather than published figures. Your site's own frost dates can run earlier or later than the state range — a parcel report pins them down.

Growing Season Fit

The zone check says almond survives winter here. Whether the season is long enough — and warm enough — is a different question.

GDD and chill-hour figures are computed from PRISM 1991-2020 monthly climate normals; frost-free days from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020. Each is the state median across its counties (P25/P75 span the within-state spread). Hardiness-zone range is USDA PHZM 2023.

Soil + Drainage Fit

Almond tolerates a wide pH range (pH 4.5-7.5) — 3 units, acid ground through alkaline — so soil acidity is rarely what limits it in Arkansas. A soil test is still worth having, but for what else it tells you about this site, not to clear this plant. It will grow across that whole span, but it does best between pH 5.5 and 6.3 — worth knowing before you decide whether a Arkansas soil test result is a problem or just a number. Drainage matters: this plant wants well (dry spells). If your Arkansas site is heavier clay or sits in a low spot, raised beds or amendment with compost solve it.

Plant pH requirements: FAO ECOCROP and USDA PLANTS, with the remaining rows from other published sources or Growable Ground compilation. Drainage: FAO ECOCROP, with the remaining rows from other published sources or Growable Ground compilation. Arkansas soil profile from USDA NRCS SSURGO. Site-specific verification: a 30-minute soil test from your local Extension lab.

Before you plant almond for food

Anything you grow to eat takes up what is in the ground it grows in, so what is on record near you is worth knowing before almond goes in. What follows is Arkansas’s documented federal record at state scale — a screening signal, not a soil test, and not a statement about any one lot.

Safe to Grow Here?

What the federal record shows across Arkansas — and how to grow with it.

Federal record: High

We checked the federal record across Arkansas — 21,012 documented sites across 8 of the 9 source types we track.

The most significant on record: 88 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.

Arkansas carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.

See every recorded site across Arkansas on the mapKnow before you grow — the guide

Explore the live map

Underground Storage Tanks10,769Nitrate5,938Brownfields2,520Toxics Release Inventory1,064Mining456

Sources Checked

across Arkansas

Underground Storage Tanks

10,769

Nitrate Monitoring

5,938

Brownfields

2,520

Toxics Release Inventory

1,064

Mining Sites

456

PFAS Sampling

171

Superfund

88

Concentrated Animal Feeding

6

Severity Distribution

across Arkansas

High264Moderate10,372Low10,376

Highest-Severity Sites

A-Prospect

Mining Sites · Past Producer

Adc - Cummins Unit Maint

PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected

Arkwood, INC.

Superfund · Superfund NPL

Ashdown Waterworks

PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected

Adams Prospects

Mining Sites · Past Producer

A note from Gnorman

What an experienced grower watches for around here

In and around Arkansas, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 5,938 sites across Arkansas. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.

Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.

Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).

read your soil before you plantbuild soil that holds onto nitrogenSee what's flagged near Arkansas

Explore the contamination map around Arkansas

Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.

What Else to Consider for Almond in Arkansas

Zone compatibility tells you about winter cold survival — but Arkansas growers also need to think about:

What to actually do about these — and the constraints that apply to every Arkansas grower, not just almond — is covered on the Arkansas growing guide.

Timing shifts within Arkansas

Almond needs about 240 days of frost-free season to complete its cycle. 58 of Arkansas’s 75 counties give it that outright. The tightest that does is Howard County at 241 frost-free days — 1 to spare. Below that line you are transplanting or extending the season, not direct-sowing.

County last-freeze dates and frost-free day counts: NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991-2020), county 28°F freeze (earlier than the folk 32°F "last frost"). Almond's 240-day requirement: USDA PLANTS / Growable Ground plant database (minimum frost-free days). A parcel report resolves your address's own frost dates.

Pollinator + Wildlife Value

Almond draws honeybees, native bees, and butterflies (high value, Growable Ground Plant Database). Planting it near vegetable beds can lift fruit set on neighboring crops. Outdoors, almond can only work that bloom inside Arkansas's frost window — roughly 254 days, opening after the last 28°F freeze (Mar 2 - Mar 20) and closing at the first (Nov 15 - Nov 23), per NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020.

Arkansas Cooperative Extension

For Arkansas-specific cultivar recommendations, planting calendars, and pest pressure for almond, the canonical source is University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. Their fact sheets carry the local trial data we can't generalize across 50 states.

Is Almond native to Arkansas?

No — the USDA PLANTS Database lists Almond as introduced rather than native in the Lower 48, so it is not part of Arkansas's native flora. It grows here as a garden plant; pairing it with a few Arkansas natives keeps local pollinators fed too.

Looking for plants that belong here? The Arkansas growing guide lists USDA-documented natives for the state.

Native-range data: USDA PLANTS Database state-distribution records, accessed 2026-07-01.

What pests threaten almond in Arkansas?

Japanese beetle is documented in Arkansas and will find almond, but it is manageable here. What an experienced grower watches for, and does:

Japanese beetle

Worth watchingdocumented in part of this state

Japanese beetles feed readily on Prunus fruit and nut trees — the University of Kentucky lists cherries, plums, peaches and their relatives among the plants likely to be attacked. The University of Minnesota's read keeps it in proportion: fruits and their trees tolerate limited leaf feeding, and in most cases the damage is cosmetic rather than a threat to the harvest.

What to do: Protect it through the few peak weeks of midsummer, not all season. Handpick beetles into soapy water in the cool of morning, harvest regularly through July and August to take feeding pressure off the fruit, and keep the tree well watered. Do not hang a Japanese beetle trap — the lures draw in more beetles than they remove.

Documented range: states listed as Japanese-beetle infested · University of Kentucky Entomology, University of Minnesota Extension, National Plant Board

The full japanese beetle playbook

Only pests whose documented range and host relationship both trace to a primary source appear here — so a quiet section means we have nothing sourced to tell you, not that your garden is pest-free.

Common Questions About Growing Almond in Arkansas