Can I Grow Almond in Texas?

Almond in Texas — the short answer

Texas is not one climate

Where in Texas Fits Best

Even within Texas's zones 6b-10b, 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 Texas

Timing tuned to sub-state frost dates — Dallam County, not the statewide average.

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 in part of Texas, not across all of it. 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 Texas. 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 Texas soil test result is a problem or just a number. Drainage matters: this plant wants well (dry spells). If your Texas 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. Texas 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 Texas’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 Texas — and how to grow with it.

Federal record: High

We checked the federal record across Texas — 93,167 documented sites across 8 of the 9 source types we track.

The most significant on record: 480 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.

Texas 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 Texas on the mapKnow before you grow — the guide

Explore the live map

Underground Storage Tanks61,246Brownfields14,589Nitrate9,058Toxics Release Inventory5,500PFAS1,103

Sources Checked

across Texas

Underground Storage Tanks

61,246

Brownfields

14,589

Nitrate Monitoring

9,058

Toxics Release Inventory

5,500

PFAS Sampling

1,103

Concentrated Animal Feeding

822

Superfund

480

Mining Sites

369

Severity Distribution

across Texas

High1,175Moderate35,505Low56,487

Highest-Severity Sites

439 Wsc

PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected

Ables Springs Sud

PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected

Acton Mud

PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected

Addicks Utility District

PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected

Agua Sud

PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected

A note from Gnorman

What an experienced grower watches for around here

In and around Texas, two things run higher than the national average across Texas — PFAS (1,103 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (61,246 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.

PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.

Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.

Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.

Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.

read your soil before you plantcontrol your inputs in containersbuild up with a clean-soil raised bedSee what's flagged near Texas

Explore the contamination map around Texas

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

What Else to Consider for Almond in Texas

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

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

Timing shifts within Texas

Texas isn't one climate. In Dallam County, the last hard freeze (28°F) holds until about Apr 12 — roughly 46 days later than the recorded state median — so plant almond to your county's window, not the statewide date.

Almond needs about 240 days of frost-free season to complete its cycle. 216 of Texas’s 254 counties give it that outright. The tightest that does is Gaines County at 240 frost-free days — 0 to spare. Below that line you are transplanting or extending the season, not direct-sowing.

Across Texas’s 254 counties the frost-free season runs from 197 days in Dallam County to 343 days in Kenedy County — a spread of 146 days, which is why a single statewide planting date misleads. The median Texas county sees 274 frost-free days, leaving almond about 34 days of slack on a typical parcel — room for a second sowing where the season runs long.

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 Texas's frost window — roughly 274 days, opening after the last 28°F freeze (Feb 10 - Mar 12) and closing at the first (Nov 18 - Dec 4), per NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020.

Good to Know Before You Plant Almond

Texas Cooperative Extension

For Texas-specific cultivar recommendations, planting calendars, and pest pressure for almond, the canonical source is Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Their fact sheets carry the local trial data we can't generalize across 50 states.

Is Almond native to Texas?

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

Looking for plants that belong here? The Texas 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 Texas?

Japanese beetle is documented in Texas 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 Texas